TENOM: The Magistrate's Court has ordered preacher Ebit Irawan Lew, or Ebit Lew, to enter his defence on 11 sexual harassment charges.
Tenom Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani made the decision after the prosecution successfully established a prima facie case against the 41-year-old following testimonies from 18 prosecution witnesses.
She set Oct 13 to Oct 16, Nov 11-Nov 13, Nov 24-Nov 27 and Dec 1- Dec 4 for the trial dates, with witness statements to be served seven days before the trial date and for the bail to be extended.
"After examination and evaluation, with a positive assessment of the credibility and reliability of all the evidence presented by the prosecution witnesses and after hearing submissions from both parties, as well as upon maximum evaluation of all the prosecution's evidence, this court finds that a prima facie case has been successfully established by the prosecution against the accused," she said.
Earlier, defence counsel Datul Ram Singh said all the points raised by the prosecution to some extent were their own admissions that the investigations taken by the investigating officer were lacking.
He said the prosecution had also admitted that ‘prosecution witness nine’ had deleted messages, which the defence counsel submitted were crucial for the court to determine that the end of the prosecution’s case did not support the charges preferred against the accused.
“There is also other overwhelming evidence presented by the defence to suggest that the accused be discharged and to not call for his defence at the end of the prosecution’s case,” he said, adding they aim to call seven to 10 witnesses to the defence.
The prosecution was represented by Nor Azizah Mohamad, Analia Kamaruddin and Muhammad Hidayat Wahab.
Ebit Lew was charged with 11 counts of sexual harassment, including outraging the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscene images and messages via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.
He was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, or a fine, or both, upon conviction.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was allowed bail pending completion of the trial.
