TENOM, Oct 23 — A witness in the sexual harassment trial involving Ebit Erawan Ibrahim Lew or Ebit Lew told the Magistrate’s Court here that he only handled Lew’s personal mobile phone when the preacher was conducting live broadcasts on Facebook or TikTok.
The 17th witness, Muhammad Azizul Fauzi Zakaria, 26, who is also Lew’s former driver and assistant, said the live sessions were usually held during talk programmes or humanitarian aid missions organised by the preacher.
He said the live broadcasts for talk programmes typically began at 10 am until noon or evening, while the aid missions for the homeless after the Isyak prayer until 11 pm or midnight.
Beyond those periods, Muhammad Azizul Fauzi said he never used Lew’s phone and, to his knowledge, no other staff members used it either.
He said this when asked by Deputy Public Prosecutor Muhammad Hidayat Wahab during the examination-in-chief on how the phone was used between midnight and 7 am.
Muhammad Azizul Fauzi also told the court that he had never created or viewed pornographic material using the preacher’s mobile phone.
He gave the response of “never” when Muhammad Hidayat asked whether he had ever produced pornographic content or accessed pornographic websites using the device.
During re-examination by defence counsel Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki, representing Lew, Muhammad Azizul Fauzi agreed with the lawyer that the mobile phone was password-protected but said he could not recall the password.
“I don’t remember it. Every time I needed to unlock the phone, I would ask for the password. As for Uwais (another staff member), I’m not sure,” he said, adding that his access to the phone was limited to holding it during live broadcasts and that he could not view its contents.
Apart from Muhammad Hidayat, the prosecution team also comprised Deputy Public Prosecutors Analia Kamaruddin and Nor Azizah Mohamad, while lawyers Datuk Ram Singh, Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki, Timothy Daut and Prabjit Singh Gill also represented Lew.
Ebit Lew, 38, faces 11 charges, including insulting the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending her obscene words and pictures via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.
The charge, under Section 509 of the Penal Code, provides a maximum imprisonment of five years or a fine or both if convicted.
The trial continues this afternoon. — Bernama
