IPOH: The High Court today dismissed the testimony of the additional witness submitted by former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong in his rape trial involving a domestic helper six years ago.
High Court Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed ruled that the testimony of Pathurrahman, a 58-year-old lawyer from Sumbawa, Indonesia, was unconvincing and mere hearsay.
“Even if the additional testimony is relevant to the case and the accused, the law is clear that hearsay evidence is inadmissible in trial proceedings unless it meets the exceptions permitted under the law.
“Accordingly, this court finds that the additional testimony constitutes hearsay and does not fall under any of the exceptions in Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act 1950,” he said.
The judge’s opinion will be forwarded to the Federal Court for consideration in Yong’s appeal.
Abdul Wahab upheld the court’s previous decision, stating that the defence had failed to raise any reasonable doubt, and therefore, Yong’s conviction should stand.
“However, the court defers to the wisdom of the learned judges of the Federal Court to make the appropriate ruling,” he said.
The proceedings, which lasted about an hour, were led by Perak prosecution director Muhammad Zaki and deputy public prosecutors Qurratul Aini Khalifah, Liyana Zawani Mohd Razi, and Nasrul Hadi Abdul Ghani.
Yong was represented by lawyers Datuk Rajpal Singh and Salim Bashir Loke.
On Feb 5, Pathurrahman testified in the High Court that the domestic helper who accused Yong of rape had allegedly admitted to giving false testimony as a pretext to return to Indonesia.
He further stated that she had also retracted her allegation.
On July 27, 2022, the High Court found Yong guilty of raping his 23-year-old Indonesian domestic helper at his residence in Ipoh between 8.15 pm and 9.15 pm on July 7, 2019.
He was convicted under Section 376(1) of the Penal Code, which carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years and caning.
On March 1 last year, the Court of Appeal reduced his prison term from 13 years to eight years and imposed two strokes of the cane.
