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Tenom: A woman told the Magistrate’s Court here yesterday that Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, also known as Ebit Lew, had asked her to delete WhatsApp messages between them due to reports of sexual harassment involving the preacher.

The ninth prosecution witness, in her 40s and the complainant in the sexual harassment case against the preacher, testified that Lew had sent her a message on July 30, 2021, through the application, saying that the police would confiscate his mobile phone.

In cross-examination before Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani, Lew’s lawyer, Datuk Ram Singh, asked the witness if she agreed that the forensic team could track the messages if it was true that there had been a request to delete it.

The woman agreed, stating that she had not deleted the WhatsApp message from on her mobile phone.

According to the witness, she carried on messaging Lew with a different mobile phone, meant for home use, after the request was made.

However, the woman said that she did not surrender the home phone to the police as it only had WhatsApp messages concerning the report against Lew, with no messages about the alleged sexual harassment.

The witness also agreed with Ram Singh’s question that there were no records of her sending a picture or message to Lew throughout May 2021, as the image of her exposed chest was taken in a video call and the picture of her face had been deleted.

Ram Singh: Despite not wanting a video call, you ended up having a video call exposing your body part?

Witness: That was one occasion when I was deceived by him. As I mentioned, I answered his video call and followed his request.

Lew, 38, faces 11 charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscenities to her phone via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.

The preacher is charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a fine, or both upon conviction.

The trial resumes on Tuesday.