By Christine Tan for The Straits Times

Copyright tnp

To escape from her boyfriend who had strangled and trapped her in his room, a pregnant woman climbed out of a window and fell from the second floor of an HDB block in Woodlands.

She suffered multiple fractures, including at her rib and pelvic bone, and was bruised all over her body. Court documents did not mention what happened to her baby.

Alerted by someone who witnessed the incident, the police went to the scene and arrested the boyfriend, Indonesian Hans Pratignyo.

On Sept 15, the 28-year-old Singapore permanent resident pleaded guilty to three charges of wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, and voluntarily causing hurt.

Three other similar charges will be taken into consideration for Pratignyo’s sentencing on Nov 6, pending a report to assess his suitability for a mandatory treatment order (MTO). Offenders given an MTO have to undergo treatment to address their conditions in lieu of time behind bars.

Pratignyo was remanded at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), where a psychiatrist found he suffers from delusional disorder of the persecutory subtype.

Those who have this mental condition hold false beliefs with conviction, despite the lack of credible evidence. The psychiatrist believed that his condition contributed to the offences.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Jun Ya told the court that Pratignyo’s girlfriend, a 25-year-old Indonesian woman, had come to Singapore on Nov 14, 2024, and stayed in his rented room.

She was five months pregnant with Pratignyo’s child at the time.

On the night of Dec 1, Pratignyo closed the windows and curtains in the room and unplugged the air-conditioning, before going to the supermarket to buy charcoal and several lighters.

After returning with the items, he closed the room door and moved his refrigerator behind it, so his girlfriend could not leave the room.

She then went into the room’s toilet, upon which Pratignyo set some tissue paper on fire, put them on top of a stack of charcoal and placed it near the toilet exit.

“The victim was unable to escape from the toilet and she felt alarmed by the accused’s actions,” said DPP Tan.

The next morning, Pratignyo set alight another stack of charcoal in the room.

He pulled the victim into the toilet, forced her to sit on the toilet bowl, and started saying, “Don’t kill my girlfriend”, as if she were someone else.

“The victim started experiencing pain in her eyes due to the smoke emitting from the burning charcoal and she feared for her life,” said DPP Tan.

The victim asked to spend two hours outside the toilet and promised to follow his instructions.

But after she left the toilet, a scuffle broke out and Pratignyo strangled her neck as she lay on the floor.

She eventually managed to escape his grip and climbed out of the room’s window to call for help.

Pratignyo attempted to pull her back, but she broke free again and fell from the second floor to the ground, landing on her right hip.

She then ran towards a nearby gym to seek help and Pratignyo chased after her. Police arrived shortly after and arrested him.

The victim was brought by ambulance to the hospital, where she was warded for 11 days.

Given Pratignyo’s condition, DPP Tan did not object to the calling of an MTO suitability report.

Pratignyo is represented by Mr Rohit Kumar Singh of Regal Law. He is currently out on $10,000 bail awaiting his sentencing.