IPOH: A witness told the High Court today that an Indonesian maid who was allegedly raped by former state executive councillor (exco) Paul Yong Choo Kiong had wanted to return to Indonesia as there was a 'orang jahat' (bad person) here.
The victim's uncle, Muhammad Rusdi, 51, said his niece had a secret and she wanted to reveal it to him and her mother when they both met her at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 19, 2019.
"When we met her at the Indonesian Embassy, she cried uncontrollably and hugged her mother. She said she wanted to go back to Indonesia as there was a bad person here.
"However, I didn't know what was the secret that she wanted to reveal as she didn't say a word to me," he said.
Muhammad Rusdi was called by Yong's defence team, led by counsel Datuk Rajpal Singh to testify today before Judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed.
In cross-examination, Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Fitri Sadarudin asked whether the victim had revealed who the bad person she was referring to was, and Muhammad Rusdi said he did not know.
Muhammad Rusdi also agreed that he did not know if any secrets were told by the victim to her mother when they met at the Indonesian Embassy.
Mohd Fitri suggested to Muhammad Rusdi that the 'bad person' the victim meant was the one who had raped her, who was her former employer (Yong) to which he said he did not know and he was not at the place when the rape incident took place.
Mohd Fitri also said the right person who should be in the witness stand today would be the victim's mother and not Muhammad Rusdi, to which he agreed, but explained further that his sister-in-law was sick.
When Rajpal asked Muhammad Rusdi if he had met his niece's employer, he replied he had never seen him.
Rajpal also asked Muhammad Rusli if he knew the exact meaning of the term 'orang jahat', to which Muhammad Rusli said: "Aku tak mengerti apa orang jahat itu, tak pasti' (I don't know who is the bad person, I'm not sure)."
Muhammad Rusdi was the last witness called by the defence team after Yong and his wife Too Choon Looi, 46, who both testified on March 16. The defence closed its case today.
Abdul Wahab fixed May 17 for submission.
On Dec 6 last year, the High Court ordered Yong to enter his defence to a charge of raping his Indonesian maid after the judge found that the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against Yong.
On Aug 23, 2019, Yong pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping his 25-year-old Indonesian domestic helper at his home in Meru Desa Park on July 7, 2019, between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.