Tenom: A prosecution witness in the trial of preacher Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, or Ebit Lew, told the Magistrate’s Court here (yesterday) that she had confiscated a mobile phone belonging to preacher Firdaus Wong Wai Hung.
Police officer Supt Hirdawati Isa, 42, said the phone was seized at 7.05pm on September 28, 2021.
The sixth prosecution witness said she was instructed by investigating officer Supt Noor Asyikin Shamsuri to seize the phone when Wong came to Bukit Aman that day.
“On that day (September 28, 2021), Wong came to the D11 office at Bukit Aman, I introduced myself as a policewoman and asked Wong to hand over his identity card.
“I (then) ordered Wong to hand over his mobile phone to me,” she said during the examination-in-chief by Deputy Public Prosecutor Zahida Zakaria today.
Hirdawati, however, said she did not check the contents of the mobile phone and had handed it over to Noor Asyikin the same day.
Meanwhile, Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani disallowed the prosecution’s request for two prosecution witnesses to testify in camera.
The two witnesses were Insp Yip Chang Ching, who is also the forensic analyst at the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM); and the complainant in the case.
Zahida said Yip would testify with regard to the 90 images contained in a pendrive that he had obtained, involving sexual images of the accused and the complainant.
Lew, 37, faces 11 charges, including defaming a woman in her 40s by sending obscene words and pictures to the victim’s phone number via the WhatsApp application between March and June last year.
The charge was framed under Section 509 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum prison sentence of five years, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
The hearing continues tomorrow.
