Laptop stolen from Malaysia but recovered in Limerick had couple's sex tape saved on it

A MALAYSIAN woman living in Limerick has been found not guilty of possession of a stolen laptop which contained a sex tape of her and her former partner.

A jury at Limerick Circuit Court was told the Apple Macbook was found by gardai who searched a house at Avondale Drive, Greystones on October 7, 2014, having been contacted by Interpol.

While accepting the laptop was located at her then home, Ching Lee, 35, who now has an address at Mallow Street in the city centre denied the charge.

The jury was told the laptop was stolen on January 18, 2011 from an apartment in Sunway – a suburb of the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur.

The complainant – Canadian national Lee David Clayworth, pictured below – told the jury he was teaching in Malaysia at the time and started a relationship with Ms Lee in 2010. The relationship ended a number of weeks before the laptop was stolen.

Mr Clayworth told John O’Sullivan BL, prosecuting, he realised the laptop was missing when he returned to his apartment at around 7pm on January 18, 2011. He said a number of other items were taken and that he reported the matter to the local police.

Being cross-examined by barrister Brian McInerney, instructed by solicitor Sarah Ryan, Mr Clayworth accepted his relationship with Ms Lee was “tempestuous” and that there was a lot of acrimony between them.

He confirmed “various photos and home movies” were recorded during the relationship and that a sex tape had been saved on the computer.

Ms Clayton accepted Ms Lee was aware the video was on the laptop and that people are concerned about the existence of such tapes when relationships end.

The jury was told that following the theft, Mr Clayworth began his own investigation and obtained CCTV from the apartment complex where he was living.

He said Ms Lee can be seen arriving and leaving the complex around the time the laptop was taken.

During the two-day trial, evidence was heard that Mr Clayton met with Ms Lee and her mother a number of weeks after the theft and that he agreed to withdraw his complaint after monies were paid to him.

Mr Clayton said he did so as he believed the stolen property had been dumped and the laptop destroyed.

The jury was told when Ms Lee was questioned, in 2014, about the laptop which was seized at her home, she insisted she did not have access to it or its contents.

In her charge to the jury, Judge Martina Baxter noted it was the State case that Ms Lee knew the laptop was stolen and had been involved in the theft.

The defence case, she stated, was that Mr Clayton was looking for “two bites of the cherry” and that the case was not about the laptop but about events which happened between the couple in Malaysia.

The jury of seven women and five men returned its unanimous not guilty verdict following just under 30 minutes of deliberations.