In matters of custody and maintenance, the well-being of the children is paramount, allowing courts to modify previous agreements to ensure their best interests are met.

[1] The petitioner wife was married to the respondent husband on 5 September 2002. She is an accountant having graduated with a degree in Accountancy from the University of Western Sydney. She is now 36 years old. She now works as a Senior Auditor of Viru Goona & Associates. The husband graduated in Electronic Design System from the University of Northumbria Newcastle under a twinning Programme with Tafe College in Seremban. His degree was that of a Bachelor of Engineering. He now works as a Recovery Officer with CCR Networks Sdn Bhd. He is now 37 years old.

Problems

[2] They were blessed with three children named Vasent, Suhganth and Yaalini. Their ages are eight, seven and five respectively. However cracks began to appear in their marriage. The wife attributed it to the husband's involvement in an affair with another woman. Things came to a head in 2010 when she said she was forced out of the matrimonial home by the husband. She had no choice but to live in her father's house since. She said that though there were much bickering and beatings at home at the hand of the husband, both of them managed to agree on the sale of the matrimonial home and that the proceeds of sale shall be used by them to purchase a house in both their names. However that did not materialise as the husband, according to the wife, did not want to stay with her.

[3] Parties also agreed on a temporary arrangement with respect to the children in that they were to be taken care by the husband's parents on Mondays and Tuesdays and by the wife's father on Wednesdays to Fridays until the parties came home from work. Initially the arrangement was working well. Later more access time was given to the husband from Friday 6pm to Saturday 6pm. The wife was not happy with this overnight stay of the children with the husband as the husband had a habit of not sending the children home on time. There were also times when the husband sent the children home on his motorcycle in the rain.

[4] The wife was concerned about the physical well being of the children when they came home from an overnight stay with the husband. On one occasion she took the eldest son Vasent for a medical examination and was shocked to find that he had a bump on his head. She suspected that the husband had hit the child for he never loved Vasent very much for standing up for her. She lodged a police report over the incident. When the children were returned in the rain they were not well after that and she had taken Suhganth to Klinik As-Salinah to see the doctor. The medical bills and receipts were at pp 40, 41 and 82 of the Bundle. The wife said that during this time of separation between 2011 and 2013 she was often verbally and physically abused by the husband. She obtained an Interim Protection Order from the Selayang Magistrate's Court on 27 May 2011 against the husband. The wife also filed an originating summons in the Shah Alam High Court seeking custody, care and control of the children and limiting access of the husband. The order of Court of 4 August 2011 is found at pp 62-63 of the Bundle of Documents ("BOD").

[5] She had also lodged various police reports against the husband at pp 35, 36 and 51 of the BOD for returning the children late, for lodging of false report by the husband, for taking the children without her consent and for trespassing into her family's property and injuring her father in the process. She testified that in the years of separation the husband had not paid any maintenance for the children.

[6] The respondent husband on the other hand has blamed the wife's disrespect of his family and her cantankerous nature for the breakdown of the marriage. Before their matrimonial home was ready the wife had stayed with the husband at the house of the husband's father. There was the respondent, his parents and a younger brother and three younger sisters. The respondent was the eldest in his family. The husband alleged that the wife did not like his family members from