PUTRAJAYA (March 1): The Court of Appeal has upheld former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong’s conviction for the rape of his maid five years ago, but reduced his jail sentence from 13 to eight years.
A three-judge Court of Appeal bench led by Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail dismissed the politician's appeal in a two-one decision.
The bench also maintained two strokes of the rotan as meted out by the High Court against Yong.
The bench, however, granted a stay of execution of the sentence, as Yong through his lawyers had indicated that they intend to appeal to the Federal Court.
“We find that the learned High Court judge had not erred in his finding. We find there is no merit in his appeal, and the decision of the High Court is affirmed,” said Datuk Azman Abdullah, who read out the majority decision.
Datuk SM Komathy, who made up the bench, had dissented with the majority, and surmised that Yong did not get a fair trial in the High Court.
“He was denied his fundamental right to a fair trial,” she said.
She added that the victim’s evidence in the case was not credible, hence allowing the appeal.
The judge said that during the course of the trial, the victim had her face shielded, which was an obstacle for lawyers to ascertain her facial demeanour and body language when answering questions, so the trial was not fair.
“Yong did not get a fair trial, as the defence was not allowed to observe the victim’s demeanour and gestures during her testimony,” the judge said.
She also pointed out a material contradiction from the victim, as the maid initially complained that Yong was mistreating her, but changed her allegations to rape a few hours later.
No DNA evidence to prove Yong committed the rape
The judge also said that no DNA evidence was put forth during the trial to prove that Yong committed the rape.
Meanwhile, Azman, who read the majority decision, said that Yong’s defence was an “afterthought and a bare denial”.
The Ipoh High Court previously found Yong guilty of raping his 23-year-old Indonesian maid in a room of his house in Ipoh, Perak, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019, and sentenced him to 13 years in jail and two strokes of the rotan.
The High Court on July 27, 2022 allowed Yong to be released on RM30,000 bail, with one surety, and ordered him to surrender his passport to the court.
In his decision, High Court judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed said the court agreed with the prosecution that Yong’s defence — that the rape incident did not occur — was not credible, and was merely a denial and an afterthought.