Welfare of the child is paramount in custody and guardianship decisions, overriding the presumption favoring the mother in illegitimate child cases.

[1] This is an application in encl 1 by Patricia Sue Lin Knudsen for:

(i) the guardianship, custody, care and control of the child, Sophia Sue-Lin O'Brien Knudsen;

(ii) the Defendant to be given reasonable access to visit the Child with notice to the Plaintiff but he is prohibited from taking the Child out of her home for overnight access; and

(iii) the Child is to stay with the Plaintiff at her apartment in the The Capers, Sentul Selatan, Kuala Lumpur.

[2] Order 7 r 2 (2) and (3) of the Rules of 2012 ("ROC") states that:

"(2) The party taking out an originating summons, other than an ex parte originating summons, shall be described as a plaintiff, and the other parties shall be described as defendants.

(3) The party taking out an ex parte originating summons shall be described as the applicant."

[3] The application in encl 1 is not an ex parte originating summons. However, the parties are erroneously described as "Applicant" and "Respondent". In this Judgment, in compliance with O 7 r 2 (2) of the ROC the parties are described as "Plaintiff" and "Defendant".

[4] After the considering the affidavits of the parties, the applicable law and the submissions of counsels, at the conclusion of the hearing of encl 1, this Court dismissed the Plaintiff's application.

[5] This Judgment contains the full grounds of my decision.

B. Background Facts

[6] The Plaintiff and Defendant are the biological parents of the Child. They were in an intimate relationship for approximately 10 years. They were never legally married to each other. Their child, Sophia Sue-Lin O'Brien Knudsen, ("the Child") was born on 4 October 2016, during the course of their relationship. Their intimate relationship ended on or around March 2018.

[7] The Plaintiff is a citizen of Denmark. The Defendant and the Child are both citizens of the United Kingdom. They are all currently domiciled in Malaysia. Both the Plaintiff and Defendant are well known public figures in the entertainment industry in Malaysia. The Plaintiff's website (www.patricia-k.com) states that she is a television host, radio deejay, music ecleticist, emcee and DJ. After their separation, between March to the end of May 2018, the Defendant continued to be the main caregiver of the Child.

[8] The chronology of events of what transpired from May 2018 onwards are detailed in the table below.

Chronology Of Events

[9] As at the date of the hearing of this encl 1, the Defendant has yet to be charged for the allegations made by the Plaintiff in both her police reports dated 7 July 2018.

[10] The Defendant avers that he only knew about the Ex-Parte Interim Order when he was in the UK with Child, where he was served with the UK Location Order. And that prior to his discovery on 12 October 2018 of emails from the Plaintiff's solicitor located in the spam folder of his email account, he was never notified of any Court attendance by the Plaintiff and was not served by post or personally with the cause papers in relation to the proceedings before this Court. This Court made a finding on 3 May 2019 that not all the cause papers were served on the Defendant.

C. Law On Guardianship, Custody, Care And Control Of Illegitimate Children

[11] It is settled law that the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 ("LRA") does not apply to co-habiting couples who are not legally married.

[12] In respect of ill