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PUTRAJAYA: The case of the former Perak State Executive Councilor (exco), Paul Yong Choo Kiong (pix) facing a charge of raping his Indonesian maid will be heard in Ipoh High Court.
This was after a three-member Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Justice Tun Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat today allowed Yong’s appeal for his case to be transferred from the Session Court to the High Court.
The trial in the Court of Sessions has not yet begun pending the resolution of the transfer appeal.
Judge Tengku Maimun, who sat with Federal Court Judges Datuk Seri Mohd Zawawi Salleh and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Suan, made the decision after the panel had read the written communication submitted by Yong’s attorney while the prosecution he did not object to Yong’s appeal.
“This is our unanimous decision as we found no error in this appeal. The appeal is admitted, the order of the Court of Appeal is annulled. The case will be transferred to the High Court, ”said Judge Tengku Maimun, who then set December 21 for the case to be mentioned in the High Court.
Earlier, Deputy Prosecutor K. Mangai informed the panel that she was ordered to take the position of not contesting Yong’s appeal.
Lawyer Datuk Rajpal Singh, representing Yong, said that the trial would begin in the High Court as both parties had reached “an agreement in the accusatory system”, as raised in the dissenting judgment in a decision by a majority of 2 -1 from a three-member panel. of the Court of Appeal.
On February 10, Court of Appeal Judges Datuk Yaacob Md Sam and Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said dismissed Yong’s appeal on the grounds that the High Court did not make an appealable error in rejecting his request to transfer the case to the High Court.
Judge Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang, who disagreed, however, said that in an adversarial criminal justice system, the court must respect the decision made by the defense and the prosecution.
Outside the court, Rajpal, who appeared with lawyer Salim Bashir, told the media that the defense requested that the case be tried in the High Court, as it involved constitutional arguments, particularly related to the Law of Protection of Witnesses of 2009.
He said the defense would challenge the Witness Protection Act following the prosecution’s request that two key witnesses testify behind closed doors.
“In this way, the defense team and the accused will not have access to the evidence since we cannot see the witnesses in person. We will raise this during the mention of the case in the National Court, ”he said.
On November 26 last year, the Ipoh High Court dismissed Yong’s transfer request under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Yong, 50, a former Perak ex-co for housing and local government, public transportation, non-Muslim affairs and new villages, has pleaded not guilty in Ipoh Sessions Court to the charge of raping his 23-year-old Indonesian maid.
Yong, who is also a Tronoh Assemblyman, is charged with committing the crime at his home in Meru Desa Park on 7 July last year between 8.15pm and 9.15pm. – Called
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