Child Custody Petition Guide

Based on this template above, act as my lawyer who is helping me craft an Affidavit. Ask me questions one by one that seek to elicit as much information from me and result in a convincing affidavit that I can file in court in support of a Comprehensive Separation Petition.

My name is Victor Kiprono Korir. I was born on 7th of April, *. I am a trained journalist working for a media house in Kenya.

Spouse's name is Charity Chebet. We got married on 7th December, *. My wife is currently not working so she has been a stay home wife and mother.

Up until a week ago, we have been staying together full-time. But then I decided to send my wife and child home to my parents. For the past three years, my wife has struggled with alcohol abuse which has steadily progressed to the point where she cannot function reliably especially with caring for our child. She has spent probably over *,* Kenya Shillings on alcohol over this period while not having a job. Initially, upon noticing her behaviour, I tried talking to her in a bid to understand her situation. However, she kept taking me in circles, never really stating her motivation to drink. We would constantly get into fights over her drinking, after which she would apologize profusely and swear to stop and change her habits. All this while, she was the primary caregiver for our baby. One time, in the year *, I arrived from work in the evening and found her doing the laundry. Seeing that, I decided to look after the baby in the living room as I waited for her to finish. However, after a while, I realized that it had been several minutes since she went to the balcony to hang clothes. Therefore, I went to check on her only to find her lying motionless on the wet floor, with a bucketful of laundry yet to be hung. Upon checking, I realized she was drunk and the only conclusion I could make was that she had been standing on top of a stool while hanging clothes and lost her balance and fell. I then dragged her inside the house and into the bathroom where I tried to shock her back into consciousness by way of a cold shower. This seemed to work slightly as I could see she was feeling cold but could not move away as she was too drunk. I then switched to a hot shower for a few minutes before helping her get dry and change into fresh clothes. I also took her to bed, covered her and left her to sleep. The following morning, she woke up and upon realizing what had happened, began apologizing and swearing that she would never drink alcohol again. But it was all a lie. At that point in our marriage, we had each other's mobile money PINs and could access each other's phones. That was also when, after realizing that she might be struggling with alcohol, I check her phone. I found transaction messages indicating that she was spending a lot of money buying alcohol while I was away at work. This was something that she was doing almost daily while still being the primary caregiver to our young child. I confronted her several times about the issue until she adopted a habit of always deleting all mobile money messages on her phone to hide the proof. This continued into the year * when we moved houses. Once our move was complete she quickly found a new place where she bought her alcohol from and continued her alcohol abuse. This kept causing a strain on our marriage but more importantly, I started to realize that she was getting worse with time. I began noticing signs of self neglect, neglect of domestic duties, and neglect of our child. At this point, I decided to do another check on her phone. Whilst she had deleted all mobile money transaction messages, her call log showed that she had a specific delivery guy who would bring alcohol to her anytime she felt like drinking. However, I dug deeper and accessed her mobile money app where I was able to find out just how much money she was spending on alcohol. This was a lot of money. I once again confronted her and we got into another fight. But things were only getting worse as she drank even more. At some point in August of *, I was sent on an assignment out of town for about three days leaving her and the baby all alone. To my surprise, I received a call from a neighbor two days later letting me know that my wife was not feeling well and that money was needed so she could be taken to hospital. Apparently, she had fallen and hit her head on a kitchen table due to "fatigue" and had been found lying motionless on the kitchen floor by that neighbor's child. She was taken to hospital where she was found with no ailment. I called my sister to go and check on her and she managed to meet them at the hospital and helped get them back to the house. Another friend of her's also came and stayed over. I was later informed by my sister that while taking care of her, she discovered that she had been drinking and had continued even after the hospital visit. My feeling at that point was that she had not fallen due to fatigue but drunkenness. At another point in *, I came home from work in the evening and encountered a puzzling mess in the kitchen. I found cooking oil poured all over the kitchen floor, cooking pot lying on the floor, and evidence that someone had been trying to prepare potato fries. I then rushed into the bedroom to check if everything was okay. I found my wife slumped on the bed unconscious with our child sitting beside her, watching helplessly. After taking the baby to the living room, I went back to the bedroom where I realized that my wife had cooking oil all over her clothes. The black oil-soaked clothes had soiled the white bedsheets in addition to a burn that she had sustained on her thigh and back shoulder area. I later realized that she had been drinking while trying to prepare the fries and at some point lost balance, toppled the hot oil, slid and fell down, then landed on the hot cooking pot. All this happened with the baby right there with her in the kitchen where anything could have happened to her too. It was then that I realized that I needed external intervention and informed her mother who was both shocked and angry. However, despite her mother trying to talk to her, my wife kept on drinking and endangering both her self and our child. In February of *, we again moved houses and my wife kept up her alcohol abuse while coming up with excuses and attempts at justifying her behaviour. Over the course fo the year, things were steadily moving from bad to worse and I had to inform my parents too. However, their attempts to talk sense into her were also futile and she kept up her drinking. Sometime around May of *, we there was some business that needed attending to at our rural home and we needed to travel together with my sister. We had planned to leave our house and drive to Upper Hill where we would pick up my sister and continue our journey. On our way to pick my sister, I decided to stop at a petrol station and fuel up the car. While there, my wife alighted and said she was going to the washroom. After a few minutes, she returned and sat at the back while our child sat upfront with me. After fuelling the car we drove off only to be alerted by the baby that her mother was sleeping and not talking to her. I looked back to check only to find her slumped over some bags that were beside her and I knew she had consumed alcohol when she went to the washroom at the petrol station. After driving a bit farther, I found a place where I could park at the side of the road so I could check on her properly. She was completely unconscious and I could tell that the baby was getting scared as she kept asking me what was wrong with her mother. I then decided to drag her out of the car and sit her down by the roadside so she could get some air. However, she could not even maintain her balance sitting down and fell over, hitting her head on the sidewalk. After a while, she tried getting up but lost her balance again and fell down on the tarmac. By this time, passersby had started asking what was happening. Some thought she was sick and wondered why I was not taking her to a nearby hospital. I called my sister and informed her about what had transpired and asked her to come meet me where I had parked by the road so we could decide what to do. After a while, my sister arrived and helped me get her back in the car. We then decided to take her back to the house before resuming our journey. By the time we reached the house, my wife had sobered up slightly and quickly alighted and staggered up the stairs leaving her bags behind. I followed her up the stairs with her bags and informed a cousin of her's who was staying with us that she would not be travelling with us anymore. I went back to the car and we started the journey with my sister and my daughter and ended up staying with our parents for almost three days without any hitch. Throughout the rest of *, my wife has continued abusing alcohol despite her mother, as well as my sister and her husband, visiting and talking to her. Several times this year, I have come back from work in the evening only to find a smoke filled house as a result of my wife blacking out while trying to cook. It got to a point where I requested that she stops trying to cook if she knew she could not do it without drinking. Many times, we have argued over domestic chores that she neglects because she is always drunk. She often fails to wash the baby, wash dishes, clean the house, take a shower herself, feed the baby, cook for the family, and even do the laundry (despite the presence of a washing machine). On many occasions, I have had to come from work and prepare food for myself and the baby, wash the baby, and do the dishes. At this point, the marriage I thought I was getting into is no more. The person I thought I was getting as a life partner has chosen alcohol over me. The woman who once accused me of not wanting to get a child with her is the same one who let's her child go hungry because she is too drunk to care for that same child. The embarrassment that I have had to endure due to my wife's alcohol abuse has caused me great pain. Hearing my daughter say that her mother is sick everytime her mother drinks and passes out breaks my heart each time. The lies that my wife has told people about my supposed failure to provide for my family whenever she is borrowing money to fund her alcoholic behaviour has damaged my dignity, reputation, and eroded my standing among those people who lend her money out of pity and concern. I no longer feel connected to my wife except for the fact that she is my daughter's mother and do not wish to continue putting myself through endless pain and suffering due to another person's inability to make the right decisions. It is my wish that I get separated from my wife and be granted full custody of my daughter since it is clear that, while my wife claims to love her dearly, she does not possess the capacity to provide adequate care or a safe environment for her.