She wanted a divorce, and so, he plotted revenge.

In the morning of Jan 30, in their Park View Mansions condominium in Yuan Ching Road, Ong Wei Poh inflicted 30 wounds on Madam Koh Siang Hua's head, chest, back and limbs - some so deep that they cut into the bone.

The unemployed 37-year-old also slashed her neck, cutting a jugular vein.

As she lay bleeding to death in a bedroom, he sent a chilling e-mail titled "Jurong Murder" to Singapore Press Holdings, among others, in which he tried to explain how he was "mistreated" and left with no recourse. Then, he stabbed himself.

He was declared dead at the National University Hospital at 10am, while his wife, a 39-year-old company director, died there shortly after.

Yesterday, State Coroner Marvin Bay found that Ong killed his wife and took his own life, adding that the evidence "points to a significant degree of pre-meditation".

Two months before the killing, Ong put up a public post on his Facebook page saying he was plotting revenge on someone who "destroyed" his life.

Police were told that earlier in January, Ong warned Madam Koh, after a Family Court mediation session, that "something big was going to happen" after their six-year-old son's birthday on Jan 18.

Testifying yesterday, the family's Filipino maid Jasmen Jamelarin Corpus, who was in the house when her employer of 5-1/2 years was stabbed, said the couple quarrelled frequently over money but things never turned violent.

Madam Koh was unhappy that she was belittled by Ong, as he was constantly telling her she was not a good wife, and that she failed to give him enough financial support.

The couple had also stopped sharing the same bedroom.

Ms Corpus described how she had just returned to her room on Jan 30 after sending the boy to school, when she heard Madam Koh saying, "I do not want to talk to you", before calling for her repeatedly.

When she rushed into the room the couple were in, Ong, who was standing behind the door, grabbed her. "He pulled me, and hit me twice on the left upper arm," she said.

Ong then chased her around the living room with a chopper before he gave up. She escaped with lacerations to her arm, one of which needed 22 stitches. She then ran to the ground floor and alerted a cleaner and a resident, who called the police. She could still hear Madam Koh screaming for her, she said.

After breaking into the flat, police found a naked Madam Koh lying face up and semi-conscious. There was blood everywhere. A chopper with blood stains was also found in the room.

Ong was found sitting on the edge of a blood-stained mattress on the floor in another room, with puncture wounds around his abdomen. A blue knife was found on a table near him. A handwritten "Final Note" was also found at the scene.

In it, Ong wrote of his intention to kill his wife, singling out the divorce proceedings, which Madam Koh started in July last year, as the key "breaking point".

"It's sad that things had to be this way. But under 12 years of insult and humiliation under her, and the way she proposed the divorce, is the final limit for me," the note said. Bemoaning how the law could not help him, he wrote: "I will settle it myself."

Five days before the tragedy, Madam Koh had made a police report, saying her husband had stolen her two bank cards and $100 to $200 in cash. Investigation showed Ong had used her credit card to pay for movie tickets at Cathay Cineleisure.