IPOH: The Sessions Court here today set July 16 for mention of the case of former Perak executive council (exco) member Paul Yong Choo Kiong, who was charged with raping his Indonesian maid.
Judge Harith Sham Mohamed Yasin set the date during case management today, pending the outcome of Yong's appeal at the Federal Court for the case to be transferred to the High Court.
Deputy public prosecutor Naidatul Athirah Azman prosecuted, while Yong, who was not present, was represented by lawyer Farhan Sapian.
Earlier, Naidatul Athirah requested for a trial date to be set since the case has been postponed several times.
"I would like to propose for the trial dates, since the case has been postponed several times.
"For this case, it is under the civil servant code, and the case should finish within a period of six months. But it has been almost a year and the trial has yet to be conducted. The victim is still under protection," she said
Farhan, when met outside the courtroom, said the court has fixed a new mention date pending the Federal Court's decision to transfer the rape trial from the Sessions Court to the High Court.
On Aug 23 last year, Yong, the former state Local Government, Public Transport, Non-Muslim Affairs and New Villages Committee, pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court to raping an Indonesian maid at his home in Meru Desa Park, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm on July 7, 2019.
On Dec 5, the court set Feb 10 to 14 this year, to hear the case.
On Feb 10 this year, the Court of Appeal dismissed Yong's application at the Federal Court on grounds that there was no appealable error by the High Court judicial commissioner in refusing Yong's application to transfer the case to the High Court.
Yong filed an appeal at the Federal Court against the Court of Appeal's decision on Feb 11, and the matter is still pending.
