Witness regretted idolising Ebit Lew after being forced to send him her photos

TENOM: The complainant of the sexual harassment case against preacher Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, popularly known as Ebit Lew, told the Magistrate's Court here today that she regretted idolising him for his charitable work and had not expected such lewd conduct from him.

The woman, in her 40s, added that she had initially viewed him as a good person who helped those in need and never thought that he would force her to send her photos to him.

The ninth prosecution witness had been asked by deputy public prosecutor Analia Kamaruddin to read the contents of several messages she sent to Ebit Lew, including da msj kt IG (I've messaged in Instagram)' and 'langsung tidak minta maaf dengan saya sebab buat yang tidak sepatutnya dengan saya, paksa saya bagi picture macam-macam, bodohnya saya ikut (no apology to me for doing what shouldn't be done to me, forcing me for all sorts of pictures, I'm so stupid to obey)'.

She explained that she was trying to express her unease and guilt as she had given in to Ebit Lew's coercion and sent several photos without her husband's knowledge.

"I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a woman and I'm not used to doing this. So I'm hesitant, uneasy and feel so guilty, I'm so sad to have done it," she said.

The witness also completed verifying all 436 screenshots of her conversations with the accused that were extracted from her mobile phone during today's direct-examination, and she stated that some screenshots might be duplicates as she might have taken them twice.

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.

The trial will resume from May 20 to 25.

-- BERNAMA