Webcam spying case: Clementi's date grilled in court

Washington, Mar 3(ANI): A lawyer representing former Indian -origin Rutgers student grilled a witness about his relationship with gay student Tyler Clementi, who committed suicide after he came to know that his tryst had been web- streamed.

The witness, known only by the initials M.B., was asked to read aloud messages he had sent to Clementi, ABC News reports.

He admitted that his encounter with Clementi had turned to sex within minutes of seeing him, and added that one of their three dates, lasted less than an hour.

M.B. had previously described the dates at the dorm room, saying he noticed Ravi's webcam pointed at the couple while they were in bed together and felt uneasy about it.

"I noticed there was a webcam, faced over in the direction of the bed. I just thought it was strange. Being in a compromising position, it just caught my eye that there was a camera lens looking right at me," he said.

He also noted that he had concerns about having any further dates in the dorm room after he heard people laughing and joking outside Clementi's dorm window.

"I started walking down toward the end of the hallway. A group of people standing there were looking at me...it seemed unsettling," M.B. said, describing his exit from the dorm room after his date with Clementi. "I would say about five people (were watching me)."

During the prosecution's questioning, which last an hour, M.B. also described how they had met on the gay dating website Adam4Adam and chatted online throughout August.

He added that he had had three dates from September 16 to 21, and planned to continue seeing each other.

M.B. was with Clementi in the college freshman's dorm room the night of September 19, 2010 when Dharun Ravi used his webcam to peek for a few seconds at the two men kissing.

Ravi faces charges of invasion of privacy, bias intimidation, witness tampering, and hindering arrest. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. (ANI)

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