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SINGAPORE – The criminal defamation trial of The Online Citizen (TOC) website editor-in-chief Terry Xu, 38, and TOC contributor Daniel Augustin De Costa, 37, began on Monday (October 26) , via an email letter written by De Costa that allegedly defamed members of the cabinet.
De Costa is said to have sent that and other incendiary material from the email account of his friend, Sim Wee Lee, who took the stand as a witness Monday.
In his cross-examination of the witness, Deputy Prosecutor Senthilkumaran Sabapathy attempted to establish that De Costa had used Mr. Sim’s email and Facebook accounts without permission on multiple occasions since 2011.
The case involves an email letter titled “PAP MP Apologizes to SDP” that De Costa wrote and sent to TOC from Sim’s Yahoo account in September 2018.
The letter said, among other things, that there was “corruption at the highest levels” of the leadership of the Popular Action Party.
TOC, a socio-political website, then published the letter with the title “The Take Away From Seah Kian Ping’s Facebook Post” and attributed it to Willy Sum, a name Mr. Sim sometimes uses.
Xu and De Costa were each charged with one count of criminal defamation in December 2018 for defaming members of the Singaporean cabinet in the letter.
De Costa was also charged with a felony under the Computer Misuse Act for using Sim’s Yahoo email account to send the letter without permission.
On Monday, Sim testified that he had shared the passwords for his Yahoo and Gmail accounts with De Costa after they became friends sometime between 2005 and 2006.
He did so because he needed De Costa’s help to compose and email letters on his behalf to various government officials, Sim told the court through a Mandarin interpreter.
“I was very grateful to Daniel because, at the time, he was facing bankruptcy and also issues with HDB and traffic citations issued against me,” he said.
“I was bad at writing in English, so I asked him to help me write the email.”
The court heard that, in addition to the appeals Mr. Sim had asked De Costa to write, his email accounts were also being used to send politically charged emails on more than 20 occasions since 2011, including targeted complaints. to various politicians and government agencies, as well as letters to TOC and other websites.
The letters discussed various political issues such as the general elections, the exchanges of deputies in Parliament and the Oxley Road dispute between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his brothers, among other things.
Some were published in TOC with different variants of Mr. Sim’s name, such as “WL Sum” and “Willy Sim”.
Sim said the unauthorized emails were likely written by De Costa, as no one else had access to his email accounts.
He also testified that De Costa had asked him for his Facebook password, as De Costa claimed he did not have his own Facebook account and “wanted to come in and have a look.”
Although he was uncomfortable giving up access to his personal Facebook profile, which was named Willy Sim, he allowed it because he considered De Costa a friend and did not want to offend him.
Later, Sim discovered that his Facebook account had been used to leave comments on various articles, including some on racial issues.
The account had also been used to send private messages to other Facebook users, including a casual acquaintance Sim had met through De Costa.
“I don’t know what that crazy Daniel De Costa is up to. He always has something up his sleeve to know what the Muslims are doing,” read a message sent from Sim’s account.
“Sometimes he fears for his safety because this guy doesn’t know fear. You either hate him or you love him, but here in our group ah beng we really like him.”
Sim said the messages were likely sent by De Costa himself, as no one else knew his Facebook password.
However, Mr. Sim did not change his passwords or take other steps to prevent De Costa from using his email and Facebook accounts, as his problems had not been resolved and he still needed De Costa’s help.
“I was very angry that many emails were not getting through to me. His emails were mostly criticizing government officials and making bad comments about them,” Sim told the court.
“He was angry because I treated him as a friend and asked him not to send messages or post anything to criticize government officials. I was also worried that something would happen to him.”
Sim said it came as a surprise when police knocked on the door in November 2018 to investigate the defamation crime and confiscate his phone and computer. He then told police that De Costa was the only other person who had access to the Yahoo account used to send the defamatory letter.
In the course of the investigation, Sim said that he learned that his Yahoo account password had been changed in January 2017 even though he was in prison at the time for an unspecified crime and did not ask anyone to trade it for him. . He said that he had last used the account in 2015 or 2016 and had since lost access to it.
The DPP asked how the defamation investigation had affected his life, to which Sim said he had faced many difficulties in the past two years that left him feeling “on the verge of collapse.”
He said, “I just hope this matter ends soon. As for Daniel’s actions, I don’t know if he intentionally or unintentionally hurt me, but I choose to forgive him.”
The trial will continue on Tuesday morning with defense attorneys questioning Mr. Sim.
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