Ebit Lew Case: WhatsApp group found missing in Firdaus Wong's phone
TENOM - Screen captures of a conversation containing the names 'Ebit' and 'uEL', extracted from a WhatsApp group from the iPhone XS Max owned by independent preacher Firdaus Wong, might not be from a single mobile phone.
Lawyer Ram Singh who is representing Ebit Lew suggested this to police senior investigation audio video analyst of the Assistant Superintendent Latifah Abdul Aziz during proceedings at the Tenom Magistrate's Court on Thursday.
"Do you agree that the names 'Ebit' and 'uEL' extracted from the WhatsApp group might not be from a single mobile phone?" Ram asked Latifah.
Latifah, the seventh witness, replied to the court that there was a possibility.
When further questioned about the method used to retrieve the eight images that were analyzed, Latifah told the court that a comprehensive analysis was conducted.
"I conducted an analysis on the iPhone XS Max as a whole using forensic laboratory software.
"The data that was extracted in its entirety will be analyzed to obtain data relevant to the investigator's request.
"So I conducted the analysis and examination, not just focused on those 118,032 images.
"What I mean is the entire data was extracted," she explained.
Latifah was also asked to clarify her disagreement with Ram's suggestion that to retrieve information from the iPhone XS Max, she would track messages from the WhatsApp group containing text messages.
"Because after extracting all the data from the iPhone XS Max, I found that the WhatsApp group, like the screen captures, was not present in the exhibits.
"I mean, that the WhatsApp group is not in the phone within the WhatsApp application," she said.
In the trial on June 22, Latifah informed the court that she received the exhibits, a unit of the white iPhone XS Max mobile phone, to conduct analysis based on the request from the investigating officer, involving any information, material, conversations, data, and other elements containing sexual content.
Meanwhile, Firdaus Wong, also known as Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, was the third witness in the Ebit Lew case, and his iPhone XS Max mobile phone was seized on 28th September 2021.
Prior to that, Ebit, whose real name is Ebit Irawan Ibrahim Lew, 38, faced 11 charges of sending obscene images and words intended to defame the honor of victims through the WhatsApp application from March to June 2021 under Section 509 of the Penal Code.
He was represented by his team of lawyers including Ram, Kamarudin Mohmad Chinki, Timothy Daut, and Nizam Salleh Keruak, while the prosecution was represented by Nor Azizah Mohamad, Zahida Zakaria, and the Magistrate was Nur Asyraf Zolhani.
