Tenom: A witness in the trial of Ebit Lew told the magistrates’ court here today that he saw the obscene messages and pictures allegedly sent by the preacher on the mobile phone of the complainant in the case.
The president of non-governmental organisation Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM), Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, who is the third witness, said he saw the obscene messages and pictures in the WhatsApp application on the mobile phone of the female complainant.
“The voice messages and obscene pictures were on the WhatsApp application itself and not screenshots,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Zahida Zakaria today.
Firdaus said he saw the messages and the pictures on the complainant’s mobile phone when he met her on Aug 7, 2021.
During cross-examination by lawyer Ram Singh, Firdaus agreed that he had met the complainant after a police report was lodged at Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur.
Ram: You also testified that you allegedly saw her handphone with text messages or photographs when you met her after she lodged a police report, correct?
Firdaus: Yes.
Ram: Do you know when (the complainant) surrendered her phone to the police after she lodged a report?
Firdaus: I don’t know.
Ram: So when you said you saw the text messages and photographs from the complainant’s phone after she had lodged (the police report), do you know at what time?
Firdaus: More or less between 9pm and 1am.
Ram: So that was when you met her at Hotel Ascott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur?
Firdaus: Yes.
Ebit, 37, is facing 11 charges, including for insulting the modesty of a 41-year-old woman by sending her text messages containing lewd words between March and June last year.
The preacher, who was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, faces a jail term of up to five years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
The trial before magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani continues tomorrow.
