The second day of the criminal defamation trial of The Online Citizen (TOC) editor Terry Xu and TOC contributor Daniel De Costa saw the latter's lawyer M. Ravi attempting to cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution's witness.
In his cross-examination yesterday, Mr Ravi quizzed Mr Sim Wee Lee - the owner of the Yahoo e-mail account used to send the allegedly defamatory letter at the heart of the case - on various details about his chequered past.
De Costa and Xu were each charged with defaming members of the Singapore Cabinet in 2018 in the e-mail letter penned by De Costa and published by TOC, which claimed there was "corruption at the highest echelons". The letter was signed "Willy Sum", a name sometimes used by Mr Sim.
De Costa was also charged with an offence under the Computer Misuse Act for using Mr Sim's e-mail account to send the letter without permission.
Yesterday, Mr Sim testified through a Mandarin interpreter that he became involved with an insurance fraud syndicate in 2008.
He said he cheated an insurance company by making false accident claims, took part in illegal soccer betting online and borrowed money from loan sharks as he was facing financial difficulties. Around the same time, his Vietnamese wife left him and moved to the United States with her 12-year-old daughter, whom Mr Sim had adopted.
Mr Sim said he was grateful to De Costa for being his listening ear during this difficult time and helping him arrange to see his MP, Mr Matthias Yao.
He had sought the then MacPherson MP's help in appealing to the Housing Board for leniency regarding the paying of his service and conservancy charges, but his appeals were unsuccessful and the HDB repossessed his flat in 2012.
Mr Ravi asked if Mr Sim had developed unhappiness with the Government after he failed to get help.
He referenced a 2008 TOC article, co-written by De Costa and one Glenn Tan, which had used Mr Sim's problems to criticise the perceived inaction of political office-holders and government agencies.
Mr Sim replied: "Of course, when you make an application to a government agency and the application is rejected, at that time you will definitely feel angry. But after some time, the anger will lessen."
Said Mr Ravi: "I put it to you that you knew the article was to be published. You were unhappy with the Government and you told Daniel De Costa to publish it as you wanted your problems to go public."
Mr Sim disagreed, adding that he had confided in De Costa but was not informed that De Costa intended to publish such an article.
"If Daniel had consulted me, I would not have agreed to let him use my full name and age," said Mr Sim. However, he conceded that he could not recall whether someone from TOC had contacted him before the article was published.
During the trial, Mr Ravi complained to the court that Xu's lawyers had arrived late.
At one point, he also suggested he might refuse to continue with the trial. He claimed there was an appearance of bias on the part of District Judge Ng Peng Hong and called on the judge to disqualify himself. The judge declined to do so, and Mr Ravi then proceeded with the cross-examination.
The trial continues tomorrow.
