The American woman held hostage for five years in Afghanistan and Pakistan with her family says she and her children suffered physical and emotional abuse from her husband who "regularly threatened to kill her by setting her on fire," according to recently unsealed court documents.

A judge has granted Caitlan Coleman the right to move back to Pennsylvania with her children.

Coleman and her husband Joshua Boyle were abducted in 2012 while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan. They had three children while held hostage by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network.

Coleman is expecting her fourth child this month, according to court documents.

The recently unsealed records detail the couple's custody battle and includes serious allegations against each another. It also provides insight into the couple's time in captivity. None of the specific allegations has been proven in court.

Coleman claims that while being held captive, Boyle confined her for six weeks to a tiny shower stall. Coleman's affidavit also alleges throughout their marriage Boyle regularly threatened to set her on fire, physically attacked her on a regular basis and hit her in the face, and repeatedly told her she was "one of the worst people in the world," according to court documents.

Coleman claimed her husband's involvement with his children was "negative, and, on occasion, brutal."

She alleges there were times Boyle would strike one of their children "repeatedly grip him around the neck and shout in his face." She claims Boyle tried to turn at least one of their children against her saying "mommy was bad and needs to be hit" or "mommy will probably go to hellfire."

'Women's work'

Boyle on the other hand, alleges Coleman tried to kill him.

"She attempted to throw me in front of an oncoming TTC train by forcefully pushing me in the path of the train while we were standing on the platform waiting for it to arrive," reads Boyle's affidavit.

He claims that she would have violent episodes, "throw items at him, threaten suicide, kick and punch him, and on two occasions, she attempted suicide."

Boyle added that Coleman has been a neglectful and abusive mother since their children were born. Boyle considered himself the primary caregiver while in captivity. He described spending hours crafting toys for his children, dreaming up games for them to play and writing them songs.

The couple's captors called him the "wife and mother, husband and father" in the family and would point out the amount of "women's work" he was doing raising their kids, he said.

Boyle also alleges that Coleman has untreated mental health issues which affect her parenting abilities and that there were times when she struck the children "between 30 to 40 times daily."

Insurgents suspected of being from the Haqqani network are presented to the media at by Afghan authorities in Kabul in May 2013. Boyle claims their captors called him the 'wife and mother, husband and father' in the family. (Daud Yardost/AFP/Getty Images)

Aspired to be journalist

The couple met online in 2002 while Coleman was a fast food restaurant employee living in the U.S. and Boyle an aspiring journalist in Canada. A few years later they became romantically involved. In 2007, Coleman moved to Toronto and lived with Boyle before getting her own apartment.

The couple had an "on-again/off-again" relationship and were married in 2011 before heading on an "ill-fated backpacking" trip to Central Asia, according to the judge's decision.

After leaving for the trip, Coleman found out she was pregnant with their first child. Boyle's affidavit says that since she was "very early on" in her pregnancy they decided to continue with the trip.

Boyle wanted to become a war correspondent and had completed a certificate in journalism from Niagara College, along with an internship at an Ottawa newspaper. He was hoping that by visiting Afghanistan he could find a story he could write about, that would eventually lead to a permanent journalism job, according to his affidavit.

In Oct. 2012, about a month after entering Afghanistan, the couple was abducted by the Haqqani network. Over the course of five years they were moved 19 times in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Boyle's account.

"During this time we both underwent severe bodily, psychological and emotional distress," said Boyle.

Coleman became pregnant three more times, but their captors forced an abortion in one case, according to Boyle's account.

Boyle details that he spent hours using a spoon to slowly whittle firewood into toys for his children. He built a garden beside a squat toilet to foster a love in gardening for them. He also said he wrote 30 children's songs to teach his kids about "history, geography, morality and other topics."

Coleman said she was responsible for home-schooling the children in captivity and that she has been a "loving and attentive mother" since their birth.

No ordinary case

Ontario Superior Court Justice Tracy Engelking wrote in her decision from July that this was no ordinary custody case.

"To say that the circumstances of this case are tragic in the extreme would be an understatement," she wrote.

Engelking dismissed Boyle's cross-motion and said that the court received no other evidence that Coleman has a current mental health issue that would affect her parenting.

"Based on all of the evidence before me, I can find little to suggest [Coleman] would not be a suitable temporary custodian of the children," reads the Engelking's decision.

She granted Coleman interim sole custody and the right to move to Pennsylvania with the children to receive support from her family.

"Under the exceptional circumstances of this case, requiring [Coleman] and the children to remain in Ottawa would be akin to once again holding them captive," wrote Engelking.

A lawyer acting for Boyle in another matter says his client is "devastated" by this order made by the family court judge.

"His first priority has always been the welfare and the best interests of his children," said the lawyer. "This is a crushing blow to him and to his family."

Coleman's lawyer says her client does not wish to give any interviews at this time.