TENOM: A woman testified in the Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday (Aug 28) that she decided to file a police report on Aug 7, 2021, after four months of continuous lewd messages from Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, also known as Ebit Lew.
The ninth prosecution witness, in her 40s, said that Lew had initially apologised in April 2021 but resumed sending inappropriate messages throughout May, June, and July of the same year.
She added that Lew disregarded her requests, persisting in sending explicit messages and making calls, compelling her to change her Facebook and Instagram usernames out of concern for her safety and to avoid being swayed by his advances.
Ram Singh: Would you agree that four months before lodging a police report, you were still texting Ebit Lew?
The witness responded, "I replied to Ebit Lew's messages when he texted me," during cross-examination by Datuk Ram Singh, Lew's lawyer, in the sexual harassment trial before Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani.
Ram Singh also questioned the witness about whether she lied in her police report when she claimed to be 'shocked' after four months of messaging with Lew.
The witness denied this, explaining that the term 'shocked' referred not to the day she filed the police report, but to the moment she received a photo of Lew’s private parts.
The lawyer further asked if it was true that the witness was also ‘shocked’ when she sent explicit photos to Ebit Lew, a person she had never met in person.
Witness: He (Lew) influenced me.
Ebit Lew, 38, widely known as a preacher, faces 11 charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscenities and images 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 imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.
The trial resumed later on Wednesday. - Bernama
