Federal Court sets Oct 23 to hear ex-Tronoh rep's rape conviction appeal

Federal Court sets Oct 23 to hear ex-Tronoh rep's rape conviction appeal

Published: Sep 5, 2024 6:51 PM


The Federal Court has fixed Oct 23 to hear former Tronoh assemblyperson Paul Yong Choo Kiong’s final appeal against the Court of Appeal’s 2-1 majority decision in upholding his conviction for raping his maid five years ago.

Yong’s lawyer, Rajpal Singh, when contacted by Bernama, confirmed the hearing date.

On March 1, the Court of Appeal, in a split decision, dismissed Yong’s appeal and upheld his conviction for the offence.

The appellate court’s three-person bench, had, however, reduced Yong’s prison sentence from 13 years to eight years with two strokes of the cane.

The panel had allowed a stay of execution, pending disposal of his appeal at the Federal Court. Yong was released on RM30,000 bail with one surety and was ordered to surrender his passport to the court.

The majority decision, made by Justices Hadhariah Syed Ismail and Azman Abdullah, found the victim to be a credible witness. They held that sexual intercourse had taken place without the victim’s consent and medical evidence supported her testimony that she was raped.

In dissent, judge SM Komathy ruled that the conviction was unsafe as Yong was seriously prejudiced by the trial judge’s decision to give a protection order to two witnesses under Section 265A of the Criminal Procedure Code.

On July 27, 2022, the Ipoh High Court found Yong guilty of raping the 23-year-old Indonesian maid in a room at his house in Ipoh, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019.

- Bernama