SINGAPORE, Aug. 29 -- "I can tell you honestly that in the weeks/months leading up to my escape, I fantasise all the time about killing you," a Singapore husband told his estranged wife in a chilling message just a year after their marriage.

She later sought a Personal Protection Order against him, saying she had suffered emotional, psychological and physical abuse.

But earlier this month, Magistrate Yvette Tay rejected the wife's application, finding that the husband's disturbing words, in the circumstances of the case, did not amount to emotional or psychological abuse and that the likelihood of him committing family violence against her was low.

Here's what transpired in the Singapore court that led to the surprising judgment, accor...