Appeals court dismisses Perak exco’s appeal to transfer case to High Court
PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal here yesterday dismissed an appeal by Perak state executive council member (exco) Paul Yong Choo Kiong to transfer his rape trial from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
The decision was a 2-1 majority by the three-member panel with Justices Datuk Yaacob Md Sam and Datuk Seri Kamaludin Md Said deciding to dismiss the appeal, while Justice Datuk Rhodzariah Bujang dissented.
In the majority decision, Justice Yaacob said they were of the view that there was no appealable error by the Judicial Commissioner in refusing Yong’s application to transfer the case to the High Court.
He subsequently affirmed the High Court’s decision made on Nov 26 last year in dismissing Yong’s transfer application under Section 417 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Yong, 50, who is the Perak exco for housing, local government, public transport, non-Muslim affairs and new villages, pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court in Ipoh, Perak, to the charge of raping his 23-year old Indonesian maid.
Yong, who is also Tronoh assemblyman, is accused of committing the offence at his home in Meru Desa Park on July 7, last year between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.
During the proceedings, Datuk Rajpal Singh, representing Yong, argued that the case should be transferred to the High Court due to the unusual difficult questions of law involved in the case, particularly pertaining to the Witness Protection Act 2009, which had never been applied in sexual offences cases.
He said this was also a public interest case as his client was a state exco and an assemblyman.
Deputy public prosecutor
Datuk Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar said the prosecution left entirely to the court to decide the matter.
Outside the court, Rajpal told the media that they would be filing an appeal to the Federal Court today against the appellate court’s decision.
Rajpal, who is assisted by cocounsel Salim Bashir, also said the defence would be applying for a stay of the trial tomorrow at the Ipoh Sessions Court pending disposal of the appeal at the Federal Court. — Bernama