JUDGMENT

Clement Skinner J:

This is an application by the plaintiff wife for the care, custody and control of a child, a boy, LZK, who is now with the defendant husband.

It will be more convenient hereafter to refer to the plaintiff and defendant as the wife and the husband respectively. I should mention that when this application was filed, the wife had also claimed from the husband a monthly sum of RM300 as maintenance towards the child but her claim for maintenance was withdrawn.

The husband and wife were married on 28 October 1997. He was then 24 years of age and she was 19 years old. They both shared a common interest - it was in music. After the marriage, they lived at various places but the last was at the husband's parents house at 9A, Jalan Maludan Utara, Sibu, Sarawak.

The marriage was not a happy one. Within 14 months of getting married, that is, by 3 December 1998, the wife had returned to her mother's house.

After the marriage, the wife taught music at the Salim Music Centre which was run by the husband and wife. The husband taught music there as well. One of his students was a lady by the name of Kong Siew Ping. The wife alleges that in December 1998, when she discove