'Ken Lim dissed your songwriting': Woman accusing Ken Lim of making indecent remarks had been upset at his criticism, lawyers say

SINGAPORE: Ken Lim had criticised the music, lyrics and singing of a woman who is accusing him of making indecent remarks towards her, his lawyers said as his trial continued on Friday (May 10).

This, the defence argued, was what the alleged victim had been upset about, and not Lim's purported sexual comments. 

Portions of the woman's evidence that showed she had been upset when Lim criticised aspects of her work were revealed in court during the cross-examination of her husband and father.

The alleged victim and witnesses cannot be named due to a gag order protecting her identity. 

Ken Lim Chih Chiang, 60, is contesting one charge of insulting the modesty of the woman, then 26. She had been an aspiring singer-songwriter at the time of the alleged offence in 2012. 

Then the executive director of record label Hype Records, Lim is accused of asking 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 on Jul 25, 2012. 

Lim, best known for being a judge on talent show Singapore Idol, faces a total of seven charges involving five alleged victims. Six charges, including one of molest, have been stood down for the time being.   

His current trial involves a woman 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. She testified behind closed doors from Monday until her husband took the stand on Thursday.

HUSBAND'S TESTIMONY

Over two days of the husband's testimony, portions of the transcript produced by the defence revealed how Lim had allegedly criticised the victim.

These include how Lim had told the alleged victim her lyrics were "too raw", "too basic" and "too simplistic" and that they "lacked depth" and "lacked complexity", or used "words to that effect".  

"Basically, Ken Lim dissed your songwriting," one of Lim's lawyers, senior counsel Tan Chee Meng, had asked the woman during his cross-examination of her. The woman agreed to the statement.  

The defence then put several statements to her, including "You were upset when he criticised your music and your songwriting", "You viewed your music and lyrics as an extension of yourself and found that criticism very upsetting" and "You were upset when he told you you didn't have what it takes". The woman agreed to all these statements.

However, she disagreed when the defence suggested that she was upset when Lim had not signed her on. 

The court had heard earlier that she had harboured "some small hope" of being signed to Lim's record label. 

Another of Lim's lawyers, Mr Paul Loy, who led the cross-examination of the alleged victim's husband on Friday, asked the man if his wife had mentioned the criticism. 

The husband said he could not recall this, only that she had been upset during a phone call with her on the night of Jul 25, 2012. 

The lawyer then pointed to messages exchanged between the two after the call to argue that the woman had not been upset about the sexual remarks. 

"I put to you that it's quite clear from the messages that you did not see any need to check in on how (the alleged victim) was feeling after your call that night because (the alleged victim) was never feeling upset about having been indecently propositioned," said Mr Loy. 

"You don't remember being told anything else about what transpired about her meeting with Ken Lim on Jul 25. Because the truth is there was nothing particularly noteworthy about that meeting," he continued. 

Mr Loy suggested that the witness was simply supporting his wife's position in court. 

The witness disagreed with all the statements. 

"Because (the alleged victim) is your wife, you are simply not an objective witness. You can agree or disagree," said Mr Loy. The witness disagreed. 

VICTIM'S FATHER TESTIFIES 

The victim's father took the stand on Friday afternoon to testify that his daughter had told him about the incident. 

"(The alleged victim) met up with Ken Lim and there was some discussion of sexual matters, and she was very upset about it and then she came home and told us at the dining table, that was about it," the man said during the prosecution's examination of him. 

Asked to elaborate, the man said he could not recall the exact words Lim had allegedly said, but that his daughter had been "very upset" when she spoke to him and his wife.

Under cross-examination by Mr Loy, it emerged that the alleged victim had been introduced to Lim through a family friend. 

The defence then alleged that this family friend had not been told about the supposed sexual remarks. 

Mr Loy's argument was that the family had never raised the matter with the family friend as it had never happened. 

"I suggest to you that you never raised the matter with (the family friend) because the truth is at that time (the alleged victim) had never said that Mr Lim had said to her 'What if I had sex with you right now' or words to that effect," said Mr Loy. 

Disagreeing, the father said: "I did not tell him because we are good friends, we don't want to upset anybody." 

Mr Loy then said: "I put it to you that (the alleged victim) had been upset after the meeting with Mr Lim because he had criticised her music and her singing, and had told her that she did not have what it takes to be a singer." 

The father replied: "I mean that's your opinion." 

"It is indeed my case ... you see, (the woman) has told us that Mr Lim had criticised her music, her lyrics and her singing at the meeting," Mr Loy replied.

"So I'm putting it to you that (the woman) was upset after the meeting because Mr Lim had criticised her music, her lyrics and her singing."

The witness disagreed. 

The defence then submitted an application to impeach the father's credibility as a witness and was allowed to cross-examine the witness about material inconsistencies between his testimony, a police statement he gave in August last year and the alleged victim's testimony. 

These include details such as where the woman had spoken to her father about the alleged incident, and who she had spoken to.

If the impeachment is successful, the court may choose not to rely on his testimony when it comes to a decision on its verdict. 

The first tranche of the trial came to an end with the alleged victim's father completing his testimony. The next tranche is fixed for July.