TENOM (BERNAMA) – A woman told the Magistrate’s Court in Tenom, Sabah, on Tuesday that Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Liew, also known as Ebit Lew, first sent a photo of male genitals to her at 4.30 pm, March 14, 2021 on Whatsapp.
“But I was unable to take a screenshot (of the photo) as Ebit Lew deleted the photo,” she said during her direct examination by deputy public prosecutor Nor Azizah Mohamad.
The woman, in her 40s, is the case complainant and ninth prosecution witness in Ebit Lew’s sexual harassment trial.
She had previously told the court that she contacted the preacher through Instagram to seek advice about family issues on March 4, 2021 and had provided Ebit Lew with her number when he asked for it on the same day, following which they continued to receive calls from the accused between March and June 2021 through Whatsapp.
She related that Ebit Lew had made a video call on March 29, 2021 and showed her his genitals, which she then took a screenshot to show to her husband as evidence as he did not initially believe that the preacher had behaved indecently.
During the month of Ramadan between April and May 2021, the accused also forced her to answer his video calls and showed her his genitals till she decided to block his number on Whatsapp.
“I blocked him in early April, but Ebit Lew called me through my Instagram, after that I unblocked him on Whatsapp, but he still kept on behaving the same,” she said, adding that the accused had asked her to engage in a ‘swinging’ session, where the witness and her husband would switch partners with the accused and his wife.
Then on July 11, 2021, she once again blocked the accused’s phone number after he forced her to answer his video calls and sent text messages on Whatsapp, and also made her sent photos and scolded her for not fulfilling his demands.
When she contacted Ebit Lew on July 29, 2021 following news that several photos linking him to a sexual harassment case surfaced, he admitted that there was a report lodged against him, whereupon she decided to lodge a police report as well.
Ebit Lew, 38, is facing 11 charges, including outraging the modesty of the complainant by sending lewd words and photos to the woman on Whatsapp from March to June 2021.
The trial is being held in front of Magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani and if found guilty under Section 509 of the Penal Code, the accused can face a maximum of five years in jail or fine or both.
