PETALING JAYA: A magistrates’ court has allowed an application for all 11 charges against celebrity preacher Ebit Lew for allegedly intending to insult the modesty of a woman with the use of a cell phone last year to be heard together.
Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani granted the application by the prosecution for charges under Section 509 of the Penal Code against the 37-year-old preacher to be jointly tried, Borneo Post reported.
Section 509 provides for a jail term of up to five years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
Ebit allegedly intended to insult the modesty of the 41-year-old victim by sending obscene words to a phone number through WhatsApp so that the contents could be seen by the woman between March and June 2021.
The prosecution had applied for all the charges to be tried together on the grounds, among others, that the evidence and witnesses in all 11 charges are closely interlinked.
Ram Singh, the counsel for Ebit Lew, raised no objection to the application as long as it only involved one complainant.
Ebit is also represented by Kamarudin Chinki and Timothy Daut.
Meanwhile, state prosecution director Ilmami Ahmad and deputy public prosecutor Azreen Yas Ramli appeared for the prosecution.
On Feb 18, Ebit was slapped with 11 charges of sexual harassment at an interior court in Sabah.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was released on bail.
The magistrate fixed Aug 1 to Aug 8 for the trial.
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