A witness in the trial of a sexual harassment case involving preacher Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, or Ebit Lew, told the Tenom magistrates’ court in Sabah that it took him seven days to analyse more than 30,000 pictures stored in a pen drive.
Yip Chang Ching, 45, an analyst from the police forensic laboratory’s computer crime investigation unit, said this included the two days he needed to open the original data of the pictures in raw format obtained from a phone involved in the case, Bernama reported.
“Following the request of the investigating officer to produce all the sexually explicit images, I conducted an analysis by looking at each image,” he said when answering a re-examination question from deputy public prosecutor Nor Azizah Mohamad here today.
The trial, which began at 3pm, was conducted before magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani, with lawyers Kamaruddin Chinki and Prem Elmer Ganasan online. It ended at about 5.30pm.
Yip, who is the eighth witness, said the analysis process took a long time because the raw data could only be read using special software before being converted to a readable format.
He said the process he carried out would not interfere with or change any information or data involved.
Ebit, 39, faces 11 charges, including defaming the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscene words and pictures to the victim’s phone number via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.
The preacher was charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment or a fine, or both, if convicted.
The trial continues from Oct 22 to Oct 25.
