SINGAPORE: A woman who had reported Ken Lim Chih Chiang after his alleged indecent remarks towards her had harboured “some small hope” of being signed to his record label, the court heard on Thursday (May 9).
Lim, who was the executive director of record label Hype Records at the time, is standing trial on one count of insulting the woman’s modesty on Jul 25, 2012.
He is accused of saying to her “Are you a virgin” and “What if I have sex with you right now” at a car park at the business address of Hype Records between 7pm and 10.30pm.
Lim, 60, is best known for being a judge on the talent show Singapore Idol. In total, he is contesting seven charges involving five alleged victims and will go through a trial for each victim. The charges comprise a single count of molest, and six counts of insulting modesty.
His current trial involves a woman, then 26, who decided to report what Lim had said to her 11 years later, after seeing news articles about the accused’s charges involving other women.
The woman, now based overseas, flew to Singapore to take the stand against Lim on Monday and testified over several days in proceedings that were closed to the public and the media.
She cannot be named due to a gag order.
The prosecution earlier said in its opening statement that the victim had gone to meet Lim at his office twice, the second time on July 25, 2012.
She had not reported him after his alleged remarks, as she had not known that uttering sexually inappropriate words was a crime, according to the prosecution.
After several days of closed-door testimony, the courtroom was opened to the public on Thursday, when the victim’s husband took the stand.
The man, her boyfriend at the time of the alleged offence, testified that he spoke to the alleged victim in a phone call after the Jul 25, 2012, meeting.
She told him then that Lim had offered her a cigarette and asked her: “What if I had sex with you right now?”. According to the man, she had been “quite shocked” about the incident. He too, had been “very shocked” and “upset”, he testified.
Asked if he considered lodging a police report, or had advised her to, the man said he had not as he “drew the line” between verbal and physical acts.
“If she had been physically harmed, I would have told her to make a police report,” he elaborated.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Gail Wong then asked about the victim’s emotions during mentions of Lim after that meeting. The man said that his wife would remember the alleged occasion and become upset.
The defence then cross-examined the man. Lim is represented by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, Mr Paul Loy, Mr Calvin Ong and Mr Samuel Navindran of Wong Partnership.
Mr Loy asked him about his wife’s decision to pursue a singing and songwriting career in Singapore before the alleged offence. The woman was then in an overseas banking job but had wanted to switch to a music career, Mr Loy noted.
The lawyer asked if the man had any concerns about the move, and the man replied that he had discussed with the alleged victim the “financial impact” of the change.
Asked if he would still support his wife in whatever she wanted to do at this point, the man responded that the two would discuss things first.
Mr Loy then moved on to questions about the alleged victim’s feelings about the meeting on Jul 25, 2012.
He asked the witness if she had hoped to be signed to Lim’s record label. The man replied that she had not been looking to be signed, but for career advice.
Mr Loy then said: “She had told this court she did have some small hope for being signed by Hype Records. How are you so sure at that time she was not looking to be signed?”
The man replied that he was simply saying what he recalled from past events.
Mr Loy also asked if the man had been aware that Lim had criticised her music, but the man could not recall this.
The trial continues on Friday with the prosecution expected to call the victim’s father or sister as witnesses.
