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SINGAPORE – The trial against The Online Citizen (TOC) editor-in-chief, Terry Xu, and an alleged article writer, Daniel De Costa Augustin, for criminally defaming members of Singapore’s cabinet, began on Monday (October 26) .
De Costa, 37, is accused of sending an email titled “PAP MP Apologizes to SDP” to TOC’s email account on September 4, 2018, with the intention of having the email posted on the TOC website. The email allegedly said there was “corruption at the highest levels.”
Xu, 38, whose name was indicated in court documents as Xu Yuanchen, is accused of approving the publication of the email in the form of a letter from a “Willy Sum” titled “The Take Away From Seah Kian Ping Facebook Post ”On the TOC website the same day.
Xu has since withdrawn the article.
Both are said to have known that their actions would damage the reputations of Singaporean Cabinet members.
De Costa faces an additional charge under the Computer Misuse Act for using someone else’s email account without permission to send the email to TOC from an internet cafe in Chinatown on September 4, 2018.
Defense objections refuted
De Costa’s attorney, M Ravi, opened Monday challenging the prosecution procedure for his client’s Computer Misuse Law charge. The lawyer argued that the prosecution should start with evidence of criminal defamation charges so as not to waste the court’s time.
The prosecution, represented by Deputy Prosecutors Mohamed Faizal, Sheryl Yeo and Senthilkumaran Sabapathy, argued that Ravi simply wanted the proceedings to be carried out in the way he preferred.
Ravi later claimed that the process was “irregular” and that he would take “a lawsuit that is necessary in Superior Court.” He then objected to a joint trial between his client and Xu, arguing that it would be detrimental to De Costa’s case since “state media” were present.
In rebutting Ravi, DPP Faizal accused the lawyer of being enraged and enraged at having a joint trial, despite having previously agreed to it. Faizal said the prosecution will collect evidence for all charges and that the sequence of evidence conducted was irrelevant.
“So, at the end of the day, let’s not pretend that this is a matter of law. This is nothing more than the defendant saying, ‘I demand that the trial proceed according to my terms,’ and that is not something the court should approve, ”said DPP Faizal.
District Judge Ng Peng Hong said he considered Ravi’s objection but ruled that the joint trial continues.
De Costa used the email account without permission since 2011
On Monday, Sim Wee Lee, the person whose De Costa email account is accused of misuse, took the stand. He stated that De Costa had been using his email account without permission since June 25, 2011.
Sim, who also goes by the name Willy and the Cantonese version of his last name Sum, said he met De Costa, who stayed nearby, between 2005 and 2006 while taking her puppies out for a walk. As De Costa walked down the street where Sim was walking his dogs, the two began to chat, and Sim considered De Costa a “good friend.”
Since Sim is not fluent in English, he began turning to De Costa for help answering official emails to government agencies.
“I am grateful to Daniel because at that time I was facing bankruptcy and also problems with HDB and also problems with the subpoenas that were issued against me. Because he was bad at writing in English, I asked him to help me write the emails, ”Sim told the court through a Mandarin interpreter.
Sim gave his email account password to De Costa for this purpose and called him sometimes to check if the emails were sent.
However, unbeknownst to Sim, De Costa was also allegedly using the account to send politically charged emails on Sim’s behalf. More than 15 emails sent between 2011 and 2018 were allegedly sent by De Costa using Sim’s email, signed with variations of Sim’s name.
When questioned about each of these emails, Sim testified that he believed De Costa was the one who sent them, as he was the only one with the password.
Sim said that he had not given De Costa permission to send these emails using his account.
Originally due to start on November 27 last year, the trial was postponed after Ravi argued that De Costa’s charges were illegal on constitutional grounds and requested that the matters be referred to Superior Court.
