IPOH: The Indonesian maid who accused former Perak executive councillor (exco) Paul Yong Choo Kiong of raping her had mopped semen stains off the floor after the incident.
This was related by field investigation officer Inspector V. Simon, 38, who was testifying in the trial before judge Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed at the High Court here today.
"She mopped the floor where there were semen stains. Based on the victim's statement, she (the victim) said there were semen stains and as a forensic team, we had conducted checks using Polilight to detect it," he said.
Simon was responding to a question posed by Yong's lead counsel, Datuk Rajpal Singh, who asked whether the victim had mopped the room floor after the incident.
Polilight is a portable, high-intensity, filtered light source used by forensic scientists and others to detect fingerprints, bodily fluids and other evidence from crime scenes and other places.
Simon said he had confiscated the mop, which was hung at the back of the door behind the house, for DNA analysis purposes.
Asked by Jaspal whether Polilight was used to identify traces of semen on the mop, Simon replied in the negative.
"We did not use Polilight (on the mop) but I seized it for DNA analysis by the Chemistry Department. Even if the mop had been washed, about 40 and 50 per cent of semen traces can still be detected," he said.
Simon also responded in the affirmative to Jaspal's question on whether fluids such as semen, vagina fluids, urine or even tea could be differentiated based on the checks specifically, and not by its colours only.
Simon was posed a question by another counsel, Salim Bashir, who asked whether he knew that the room the incident took place belonged to Yong's son, who is currently away for his studies.
"Agreed. I was told that the room belongs to his (Yong's) son," he said.
Yesterday, Simon, when identifying the case items, told the court that eight suspected semen stains were found on a bed sheet at Yong's home.
The case items also involved four strands of hairs found on the bed, and two swab sticks, of semen found on the floor beside the bed at the crime scene.
Among the other case items were a piece of bedsheet which had been cut, a mop handle, a grey-coloured pair of men's underwear, a brown T-shirt, a pair of black and red striped shorts, an S-sized white round-neck T-shirt, blue shorts, pink panties and a blue bra.
Yong, 51, pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping his Indonesian domestic helper at his house in Meru Desa Park on July 7, 2019 between 8.15pm and 9.15pm.
Yong was first charged in the Sessions Court here on Aug 23, 2019, when he was the state Housing, Local Government, Public Transport, Non-Islamic Affairs and New Villages committee chairman.