KUALA LUMPUR – The appellate court has upheld former Tronoh assemblyman Paul Yong Choo Kiong’s guilty verdict for raping his maid.
The majority decision, delivered by Datuk Azman Abdullah this morning, maintained the high court’s conviction of Yong in 2022.
Azman said that the high court judge had not erred in reaching the guilty verdict and that the panel agreed with the judge’s assessment that Yong’s defence against the offence was an afterthought and a mere denial.
“Therefore, we dismiss the appeal with no order for costs,” he said.
However, Yong’s jail sentence was reduced from 13 years to 8 years.
“The element of rape under Section 376(b) of the Penal Code was satisfied. The appellant did have sexual intercourse with the victim and such intercourse was without consent.
“The learned (trial) judge had examined the evidence before him, (including) the medical report. He also found that the victim (who is also the 15th prosecution witness) is a credible witness.
“He found that the opportunity (for Yong) to rape the victim was when he was left alone (with the victim) for the duration of 10 to 13 minutes at the time his wife had left to go to McDonalds nearby.
“Within such time, it is possible that rape may happen to the victim,” he said, dismissing Yong’s appeal with no order for costs.
Other judges on the bench were Datuk S.M. Komathy Suppiah and Datuk Hadhariah Syed Ismail.
On Yong’s reduced jail term, his counsel, Datuk Rajpal Singh, had today asked the court to consider his client’s age, being more than 50 years-old.
The former Tronoh assemblyman was also granted a stay of his sentence execution, pending his appeal at the Federal Court.
Other lawyers on his defence team are Datuk Hisyam Teh Pok Teik and Salim Bashir.
Yong was charged on August 23, 2019, with raping his Indonesian domestic helper at his home in Meru Desa Park.
He pleaded not guilty to the offence that he was accused of committing on July 7, the same year, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.
He was convicted and sentenced on July 27, 2022. – March 1, 2024