Happy ending: Chow (right) smiling as he leaves the Temerloh High Court with his lawyer Lim Monday.
Source: http://thestar.com.my/news=courts (By ROSLINA MOHAMAD, 18/1/2011)
TEMERLOH: The High Court has ruled in favour of a lorry driver sued for defamation by his late girlfriend’s father over news articles that she was a “sex slave” to a medium. Judicial Commissioner Akhtar Tahir said both the girl’s father, Ngew Sin Chon, 52, and the other plaintiff, medium Liew Fatt Meng, 47, had failed to prove that Chow Yan Wai, 33, had uttered such remarks in news reported by China Press. He said based on court testimony, the statements made by Chow to China Press was about his love story with the girl.
“Other things mentioned in the stories reported in the newspaper were from other sources. As such, the plaintiffs have failed to prove their case and their claims for damages are dismissed with costs of RM8,000,” said Justice Akhtar, who also awarded Chow the costs.
Both plaintiffs had filed the suit against Chow, The China Press Bhd and its then editor-in-chief Teoh Yang Koon on Jan 7, 2009, after several articles appeared claiming that Chow’s girlfriend, Tie Wie, was Liew’s sex slave for several years. Among others, the daily had printed claims that Ngew had sent his daughter to stay with Liew since she was 19 due to a superstitious belief and that she committed suicide because she could no longer stand the sexual assault. Tie Wie, who was 24 when she died, had been with Chow for about six months before the suicide in November 2007.
Although both the second and third defendants settled the matter out of court early last year, Chow chose to proceed with the hearing, which ran from July 1, 2009, until Oct 20 last year.
The plaintiffs were represented by counsel Albert Koo while Lim Lip Eng and Stella Ng appeared for Chow. Speaking to reporters later, Lim said his client was grateful that the court had ruled in his favour because it would help to clear his name and reputation. “My client has had to put up with a lot of hardship – financially and emotionally – during the hearing. “His reputation has suffered as he lives in a small community in Benta, Kuala Lipis. The case was of central interest in his hometown that even bookies had placed bets against him,” Lim added.
Lim said his client was also mulling over the possibility of appealing against the amount of costs.
Related news: Defamation suit quashed: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/24loht/Article
No comments:
Post a Comment