Defence - Part 1

On 14 July 2009, the Mahkamah Tinggi Syariah Selangor di Shah Alam granted me an ex-parte Interim Custody Order over my two children.

I applied for the interim order on grounds that

1. My wife (now ex-wife) was having an extra-marital affair; and
2. She threatened to run off with the children to Labuan sometime in June 2009.

As it was an interlocutory ex-parte application, I had to submit evidence to support my claim. I exhibited a number of pictures from the CCTV recordings taken from my wife's boyfriend's apartment car park and lifts. These included pictures of them holding hands, hugging and kissing in public places.

There were also photographs of her handphone with explicit SMS messages from her boyfriend such as "... pls help me... I really must hv sex, i want u n i need u so badly..."

A week later, I filed in the main "Hadhanah" case or the "kes induk".

My application was on grounds that

1. My wife (now ex-wife) was having an extra-marital affair and had demonstrated bad behaviour openly in public, i.e. Section 84(b) of Enakmen Undang-undang Keluarga Islam (Negeri Selangor) 2003 (or "EUUKIS"); and
2. Due to the extra-marital affair, she had neglected the well being of the children, i.e. Section 84(e) of EUUKIS.

Having an affair does not get captured under Section 84(b). However, bad behaviour openly in public is.

Because of the interlocutory ex-parte application, my ex-wife was well aware of the CCTV as well as the SMS evidence.

So what was her defence? How could she counter the case that I had put forth?

Her first course of action (based on her lawyer's instructions I'm sure) was to discredit me. However, any accusations thrown at me must be proven in Court. So how would she achieve that?

As encouraged and taught by her lawyer, she started making numerous (false) police reports against me. For example, she reported that

1. I had purportedly accused her of sleeping with her colleague and she denied having an extra-marital affair;
2. I had purportedly disallowed her from having lunch with my daughter;
3. I had purportedly beaten up my 5 year old son;
4. My parents had purportedly constantly disturbed and traumatised my maid and my children;
5. She forced my maid to lodge a police report against my parents, claiming that my parents purportedly were constantly harrassing the maid and the children; 
6. I had purportedly forced and dragged my children to follow me to visit my grandmother;
7. I had purportedly kidnapped my children (when in fact I went back to Melaka for Hari Raya and she refused to follow).

The list goes on and on...

Secondly, her strategy (again with her lawyer's advise) was to get close to the children, to completely severe the children's interaction with me and my parents and to indoctrinate/coax the children. Her lawyer's plan was then to get the Honourable Judge to interview the children and hoping that the children would choose to be with her.

In order to achieve this, she started off by threatening the children as well as to poison the children's mind. They were warned to stay away from me and my family. All of a sudden, my children were terrified of me and my parents. They refused to go for a ride in the car with me (which they look forward to everyday) or to see my parents who lives just accross the road. My children were not even allowed to "buka puasa" with my parents during Ramadhan.

After lodging so many police reports against me and especially my parents, my wife (now ex-wife) then attempted to use the police reports as (false) evidence to obtain an ex-parte injunction against my parents. Her application was to stop my parents from coming to my house and to stop them from seeing my children. The (ridiculous) application was probably thrown out as no such injunction has ever been granted by the courts.

Thirdly, their biggest worry is the CCTV evidence. Understandably, it is extremely embarassing to have their affair exposed in such a manner. It also proves without a shadow of doubt of their affair. In order to suppress this evidence, they got my ex-wife's boyfriend to obtain an injunction from the civil courts. The injunction was to stop me from using the CCTV evidence in the Syariah Courts on grounds of defamation.

At this juncture, I wish to point out that it is my personal opinion that the lawyer advising my wife (now ex-wife) may have taken my ex-wife and her boyfriend for a ride. Either that or the lawyer had simply not done much research into this matter. It is blatantly clear in statute that the Civil Courts have no jurisdiction whatsoever over the Syariah Courts and vice versa. Till today, I don't see the point of taking that civil court injunction. It did more harm than good to them as it clearly proves that they were the people in the CCTV recordings.

Just prior to that, in August 2009, my wife (now ex-wife) had rummaged through my belongings and found my thumbdrive hidden in my trousers pocket. In there was a recording of a conversation between a private investigator and my wife's (now ex-wife) boyfriend's 2nd ex-wife. Confused?

Well put it this way. My ex-wife's boyfriend had 2 wives. She made him divorce both wives during the affair. The PI had tracked down and interviewed the boyfriend's 2nd ex-wife (let's call her "S"). PIs being PIs, they bragged about their ability to enter into houses and/or offices.

After finding out about the recording

1. The boyfriend beat up S on 9 September 2009 for apparently divulging personal information about him to the PI; and
2. The boyfriend had used the recording to support his claim that I had purportedly trespassed into his house and/or office.

Therefore, on 29 October 2009, my wife's (now ex-wife) boyfriend obtained an ex-parte injunction  against me and my parents from the civil courts. The injunction prohibits me from entering his house and office, prohibits me from using the CCTV evidence in the Syariah Court proceedings and prohibits me and my parents from "defaming" him.

His application was on the following grounds

1. I had purportedly trespassed into his house and/or office to obtain his personal documents;
2. I had wrongfully accused him of having an affair with my wife (now ex-wife) and that the CCTV evidence is fabricated; and
3. My parents had purportedly defamed him.

Finally, my wife's (now ex-wife) lawyer tried to find dirt on my parents. The lawyer tried to do a full check on my parents for "insider trading". If convicted, my parents could be jailed for up to 10 years, fined no less than RM1 million or both. Till today, no complaint, investigation, charge or conviction have been made against my parents.

With all the nonsense that was going on, on 25 September 2009, I divorced my wife.

Initially, I thought that with her out of my life, all the insanities would stop. Little that I know that what followed after that was probably the most turbulent, ridiculous and challenging part of my life.