Ken Lim told alleged victim he was accused of sexual misconduct before and got away with it, her friend testifies

SINGAPORE: A 25-year-old woman who was allegedly molested by music producer Ken Lim told her boyfriend and friend that she was groped during an interview with him in 2021, a court heard on Wednesday (Nov 27).

The woman also relayed that Lim told her he had been accused of sexual misconduct several times before and had got away with it, her friend testified.

These details emerged partway through Lim’s trial over an accusation of molesting the woman during a work interview at the Hype Records office on Henderson Road on Nov 23, 2021.

Lim, 58, was the executive director of Hype Records and is best known for being a judge on Singapore Idol.

Aside from the molestation charge, he also faces accusations that he made sexual remarks to women between 1998 and 2013.

He has denied all seven allegations that have been made against him by a total of five women and is fighting the charges in five separate trials.

The verdict in Lim’s first trial, for allegedly making sexual comments to an aspiring singer-songwriter in 2012, is expected to be delivered on Dec 11.

During that trial, Lim accused the alleged victim of making up “blatant” lies, and his lawyers claimed the woman was upset after Lim “dissed” her songwriting.

Wednesday’s hearing was part of the second of Lim’s trials to commence. The trial opened in October.

Earlier in the week, the complainant testified in private. In Singapore, all alleged victims of sexual offences give testimony in closed-door hearings unless they wish to testify in open court.

The complainant’s identity is protected by a gag order, which extends to the naming of other witnesses that could lead to her being identified.

The woman’s boyfriend at the time was the second witness for the prosecution.

The man spoke about feeling sceptical of Lim’s motives for meeting his then girlfriend because of the terms of endearment and a kissing emoji that Lim used in text messages with the woman.

When he met his girlfriend on the night of Nov 23, 2021, after her interview with Lim, he also recalled that she was very quiet and kept to herself.

Under cross-examination by the defence on Wednesday, the man was asked why he did not press her to find out what was bothering her. He said that he wanted to give her time to find the right words.

The woman eventually told him in a text message on the night of Nov 24, 2021, that Lim had molested her.

In a phone call after that, the woman said that Lim had kissed her, forced himself upon her – in the sense of doing something she did not want – and groped her chest, the man said.

The couple also discussed what to do next. Ideas included capturing the text messages between the woman and Lim as evidence, holding a stakeout to catch Lim in the act, secretly recording him at another meeting, and having the woman meet him for dinner.

When asked why they did not carry out these ideas, except for capturing the text messages, the man said there was “a sense of fear if you’ve been possibly sexually assaulted” that the situation could have become more violent or hostile.

The woman’s boyfriend told the court that her text exchanges with Lim took place in a secret chat on Telegram. Messages in secret chats cannot be forwarded and have a self-destruct timer.

On Dec 1, 2021, the couple reported Lim to the police and submitted screenshots of the woman’s Telegram messages, including messages exchanged with Lim.

The man was questioned about why he did not submit a complete set of screenshots of the various text conversations.

He said that he presented screenshots of entire conversations to the police, and the investigation officer “handpicked” which messages were relevant to the report they were making.

In the case of secret chat messages between Lim and the woman, the man also said he could not be with her 24 hours a day to take a picture of every self-destructing message.

The man was also questioned about text messages he sent to his brother on Dec 1, 2021, about the alleged molestation, including a message drafted together with the complainant.

In the messages, the man wrote to his brother to say that Lim had told the complainant he had “three rape allegations”.

The defence asked whether this information would have come from the complainant, and the man confirmed that.

LIM WANTED TO TIE HER UP, THE WOMAN SAID

The complainant’s friend then took the stand to give her evidence-in-chief. She told the prosecution that in 2021, she and the woman were close friends who met at least once a week.

The friend recalled a video call with the complainant in November 2021 in which the woman spoke about an interview with Lim that was “quite traumatic” for her.

The friend said that the woman had told her she was molested by Lim, who groped her chest. She could not remember if the woman said this happened over multiple interviews or a single interview.

The prosecutor then asked if she could recall anything else.

She said “something that really stood out” was that the woman mentioned Lim said “he has been accused of molestation or sexual assault several times and has gotten away with it”.

The complainant’s friend also said that the details the woman relayed to her were “very graphic”.

When asked to elaborate, the friend said she could highlight some details that stood out to her, although she was not certain about the order in which they occurred.

The complainant had talked about how during one of her interviews with Lim, he asked her “whether she wanted things to change after she stepped out of the room and she responded that she picked change instead of no change”, the friend said.

The complainant also spoke about Lim forcing her to kiss him and asking her to perform a sex act on him, the friend said.

After pausing to think for a moment, the complainant’s friend added: “He also said that he wanted to tie her up.”

The prosecution asked if she recalled if the complainant had said anything about the context in which the comments about the sex act and tying her up were made. The friend said she could not recall.

The prosecution also asked about the complainant’s demeanour during the video call. The friend said she was “very shaken up” and that the atmosphere of the call was “very chaotic”.

“She just seemed very traumatised by what had happened and very disgusted that she was forced to do things that she didn’t want to do,” the friend said.

Lim is being represented by Senior Counsel Tan Chee Meng, Mr Paul Loy, Mr Calvin Ong and Mr Samuel Navindran of Wong Partnership.

He and his wife were present in court on Wednesday, with Lim listening closely to proceedings from the dock.

The trial resumes on Thursday morning, with the defence set to cross-examine the complainant’s friend.