Pregnant woman falls from 2nd-floor HDB flat to escape boyfriend who trapped her inside room, strangled her

An Indonesian and Singapore permanent resident, 28, trapped his pregnant girlfriend in a rented room in a Woodlands Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat by blocking the bedroom door with a refrigerator.

The man also set a stack of charcoal on fire in the room and strangled her.

To escape from the man, she climbed out the window of the second-floor flat.

When the man tried to pull her back into the room, she freed herself from his grasp and fell from the second floor, landing on her right hip.

On Sep. 15, the man, Hans Pratignyo, pleaded guilty to one charge each of wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, and voluntarily causing hurt, The Straits Times reported.

Pratignyo will be sentenced on Nov. 6, pending a report to assess his suitability for a mandatory treatment order, after he was remanded to the Institute of Mental Health in December 2024 and was diagnosed with delusional disorder.

Three other similar charges will also be taken into consideration, ST stated.

Five months pregnant

According to court documents, Pratignyo's Indonesian girlfriend, 25, was five months pregnant with his child at the time.

In November 2024, she travelled from Indonesia to Singapore to live with him in a rented room in Woodlands.

On Dec. 1, Pratignyo left the flat to go to a nearby Sheng Siong supermarket to buy three packets of charcoal and several lighters.

When he returned, he closed the door to the room while his girlfriend was still inside and moved his refrigerator behind the door, preventing the woman from leaving.

While trapped in the room with Pratigyno, the woman went into the toilet within the room.

During that time, Pratignyo took a few pieces of tissue paper and set them on fire with a lighter. He placed them on top of a stack of charcoal near the exit of the toilet to alarm her.

The woman was then unable to escape from the toilet and was alarmed by his actions.

Strangled her

On Dec. 2, 2024, Pratignyo set another stack of charcoal on fire in the room, creating heavy smoke.

He then pulled the woman into the toilet and forced her to sit on the toilet bowl.

He began to talk to her as though she was not his girlfriend, saying, "don't kill my girlfriend".

Due to the smoke from the burning charcoal, the woman began to experience pain in her eyes, and she feared for her life.

She asked Pratignyo to let her spend two hours outside the toilet, and she would follow his instructions, which he obliged.

However, after leaving the toilet, Pratignyo started strangling the woman's neck.

When the woman finally escaped his grip, she climbed out of the room window while Pratignyo was walking towards the toilet and called for help.

Pratignyo tried to pull her back into the room, but she broke free and fell from the second floor to the ground level.

He then chased after her as she ran towards an Anytime Fitness gym opposite the block to seek help.

A passerby, who saw the woman struggling to escape from the window, had called the police.

Police officers arrived on the scene and arrested Pratignyo.

The woman was conveyed to Singapore General Hospital.

She was found to have sustained multiple fractures on the pelvic bone, multiple abrasions and contusions, and a possible fracture of her rib, among other injuries.

Court documents did not state what happened to the baby.

Pratignyo was arrested on Dec. 2 until he was charged in court on Dec. 4 before he was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric assessment.

According to medical records, Pratignyo is said to suffer from delusional disorder of the persecutory subtype.

This is a serious mental illness characterised by the presence of delusional beliefs, which are fixed false beliefs held with conviction despite the lack of evidence.

In the prosecution's address on sentence, it stated that Pratignyo's condition had a "substantial contributory link" to the offences.

Top photos via Lianhe Zaobao & Court Documents