A WITNESS in the trial of Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, or Ebit Lew, told a magistrate’s court in Tenom 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 civil society group Multiracial Reverted Muslims, Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, who is the third witness, said he saw the obscene messages and pictures in the WhatsApp app on the mobile phone of the female complainant.

“The voice messages and obscene pictures were on the WhatsApp app itself and not screenshots,” he said during examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Zahida Zakaria today.

Firdaus said he saw the messages and pictures on the complainant’s mobile phone when he met her on August 7 last year.

Zahida: Can you recognise the picture on the complainant’s mobile phone?

Firdaus: Yes, that’s one of the pictures I saw on the complainant’s mobile phone.

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 have allegedly seen 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 (complainant) surrendered her phone to the police after she lodged a police report?

Firdaus: I don’t know.

Ram: So when you said you have seen the text messages and photographs on the complainant’s phone after she had lodged (the police report), do you know what time?

Firdaus: More or less between 9pm and 1am.

Ram: So this one is when you met her at Hotel Ascott, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur, agreed?

Firdaus: Yes, I agree.

Ebit Lew, 37, is facing 11 charges, including insulting the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscene messages and pictures to her phone via WhatsApp between March and June last year.

The charge, under section 509 of the penal code, provides for a prison sentence of up to five years or a fine, or both, upon conviction.

The trial before magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani continues tomorrow. – Bernama, December 20, 2022.