The ninth prosecution witness, who is in her 40s, said Ebit had initially apologised in April 2021, but resumed sending inappropriate messages throughout May, June, and July the same year.
She said Ebit, 38, disregarded her requests, and persisted in sending explicit messages and making calls. She said this compelled her to change her Facebook and Instagram usernames out of concern for her safety and to avoid being swayed by his advances.
“Would you agree that four months before lodging a police report, you were still texting Ebit?” asked Ebit’s lawyer Ram Singh during cross-examination in the sexual harassment trial before magistrate Nur Asyraf Zolhani.
“I replied to Ebit’s messages when he texted me,” said the woman.
Ram also asked the witness whether she lied in her police report when she claimed to be “shocked” after four months of messaging with Ebit.
The witness denied this, saying that she was not referring to the day she filed the police report, but to the moment she received a photo of Ebit’s private parts.
Ram then asked if it was true that she was also “shocked” when she sent explicit photos to Ebit, a person she had never met in person.
“He (Ebit) influenced me,” the witness said.
Meanwhile, she said Ebit had confided that his sexual needs were purportedly unmet by his wife.
She stated that Lew spoke of the matter during a 44-minute and nine-second video call on May 20, 2021.
She also denied having shared any intimate details about herself with Lew during the video call and confirmed that no recordings were made.
The complainant agreed with a question from Ram, during cross-examination, acknowledging that she had voluntarily participated in the video call.
She said she felt Lew had exploited her by subtly manipulating her to comply with his desires, and denied wanting to have intimate relations with him.
Ebit faces 11 charges, including outraging the modesty of a woman in her 40s by sending obscenities and images to her phone via WhatsApp between March and June 2021.
The preacher is charged under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both upon conviction.