While their divorce is waiting to be finalised in the courts, her soon-to-be-ex-husband took his girlfriend to their matrimonial home to stay for a weekend.

The incident, which happened last month, caused Ms Juliet Stannard "great distress and anguish".

So much so she applied for a Personal Protection Order (PPO) against her husband in the Family Court yesterday - and got it.

The New Paper understands that her case is not typical, as the majority of PPOs are granted mostly on grounds of physical violence, and hardly for mental anguish.

Ms Stannard, a director of a real estate company, said in the complaint mentioned in court yesterday, of her soon-to-be-ex-husband Robert Russel, the head of a private bank, that "in light of our history and my medical condition, he is aware that what he is doing is traumatising and harassing me and causing me great distress and anguish".

She explained that she suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Ms Stannard was diagnosed with the condition when her former husband was swept away in the 2004 tsunami while on a family holiday in Khaolak, Thailand. He was never found.

Since then, she has been in the care of a psychiatrist here to treat her PTSD.

She maintains that Mr Russel is aware of her history.

When she found out about Mr Russel's affair in April last year, Ms Stannard immediately filed for divorce.

She also applied for him to be excluded from the matrimonial home. He moved out last May, but returned in September.

Mr Russel had asked to be allowed to continue living in the matrimonial home.

He said that all he wanted was a place "to go back home to rest and sleep at night".

He also claimed that he had never been offensive and had shown sensitivity and consideration in his actions.

The court ordered in November last year that he be allowed back, but only in the outer building of the house, while Ms Stannard continues to live in the main building.

Yet, from March 21 to March 23, Mr Russel took his girlfriend to the home.

Concerned

Apart from worrying about her own state of mind, Ms Stannard added that she was concerned because her teenage daughter from her previous marriage was visiting.

Not wanting to give in to her anxiety disorder, she decided to file a complaint for a PPO.

Last year, there were 1,177 PPOs issued, a slight increase from the 1,171 in 2011; but there was no breakdown as to how many of these were for mental anguish.

Divorces among Caucasians has also been on the rise in Singapore in the last few years.

Since 2008, the number of divorces where at least one spouse is a Caucasian has climbed steadily.

Latest figures from Singapore Department of Statistics showed that it rose from 105 in 2008 to 159 in 2011.

While many expats prefer to file for divorce in their home country, where laws are often more favourable towards the non-working spouse, other matrimonial-related claims are still filed and enforced here.

These include maintenance orders, child custody agreements and personal protection orders.

Both Ms Stannard and Mr Russel have become Singapore citizens.

Mr Russel was not in court yesterday. His lawyer said he was abroad.

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