Maid wanted to leave country because of ‘a bad person’, High Court told

 

Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong, who is accused of rape, and his wife Too Choon Looi at the Ipoh High Court on March 16. (Bernama pic)

IPOH: The maid in the rape case involving Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong had told her mother and her uncle that she wanted to return to Indonesia because there was “a bad person”, the High Court heard today.

Speaking through an interpreter, Muhammad Rusdi, 51, of Sumbawa, Indonesia, said the matter was related to him and the victim’s mother at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 19, 2019.

“During the meeting, she wept and hugged her mother. She said she wanted to return home as there was a bad person,” he said when questioned by deputy public prosecutor Fitri Sadarudin.

Asked by Fitri whether the “bad person” referred to her employer, Muhammad disagreed.

Muhammad said in the only meeting among the three of them, the victim wanted to reveal “a secret” but was then ordered out of the embassy hostel.

The witness did not agree with Fitri’s suggestion that the secret referred to the woman’s intention to say that she had been raped by her employer.

When questioned by lead defence counsel Rajpal Singh on whether the victim named the bad person, Muhammad replied: “Not mentioned. I do not know the person.”

Rajpal then informed High Court judge Abdul Wahab Mohamed that the defence had closed its case after its last witness completed giving his statement.

The judge later ordered both parties to submit their written arguments before or on April 25 and file their rebuttals on May 9. He also set May 17 for oral arguments.

Yong, 52, is accused of raping the 23-year-old maid in a room on the first floor of his house in Meru Desa Park between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019.

He was charged under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail term of 20 years and whipping upon conviction.

On March 16, the defence team called Yong and his wife, Too Choon Looi, 46, as witnesses.

The High Court earlier ordered Yong to enter his defence after ruling that the prosecution had succeeded in proving a prima facie case against him. - FMT