A POLICE superintendent appearing as a prosecution witness in the trial of preacher Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, or Ebit Lew, told the magistrate’s court in Tenom yesterday that she had confiscated a mobile phone belonging to preacher Firdaus Wong Wai Hung.

Superintendent 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 Firdaus came to Bukit Aman that day.

“On that day, Firdaus came to the D11 office at Bukit Aman, I introduced myself as a police officer and asked him to hand over his identity card.

“I (then) ordered Firdaus to hand over his mobile phone to me,” she said during the examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Zahida Zakaria.

Hirdawati said she did not check the contents of the phone, handing it over to Noor Asyikin the same day.

Meanwhile, magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani denied the prosecution’s request for two of its witnesses – police forensic analyst Insp Yip Chang Ching and the complainant – to testify in camera.

Zahida said Yip would provide evidence on the 90 images contained in a USB drive that he had obtained, involving sexual images of the accused and the complainant.

Lew, 37, faces 11 charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscene words and pictures to her phone on WhatsApp 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, a fine, or both upon conviction.

The case continues today. – Bernama, February 8, 2023.