SerpApi.Org
A British father is to be prosecuted in Cyprus over the death of his two-year-old son, who fell from a hotel window.
The 37-year-old banking executive was charged on Tuesday with “causing death by a rash, reckless, or dangerous act”, after the boy fell from the fourth floor of a hotel while playing with him.
The boy was pronounced dead on arrival in hospital following the accident this month. Hours after he fell from the King Evelthon Beach Hotel and Resort in Chlorakas, near Paphos, his father was arrested.
The father of two has been released on bail and is banned from leaving the Mediterranean country before a trial next week.
The family from the Home Counties were on the first day of their holiday when police were called to the five-star hotel on July 12 at about 6.40pm after the boy fell 10m from the window.
Officers said the boy fell while playing with his father in the corridor next to the family’s room as they waited for the lift to take them to the restaurant for dinner.
The boy slipped from his father’s grip and fell through an open window in front of them.
Arrested for negligence
Just over three hours later, at 10pm, the father was taken to the police station and told he was under arrest for negligence.
He co-operated throughout interviews and appeared at Paphos district court the following morning. He was remanded in custody for eight days.
George Savvides, Cyprus’s attorney general, confirmed on Tuesday that the man would be prosecuted and he appeared before the district court.
As he sat in the dock accompanied by his father and mother, he was told he would appear in court next week and would have to pay €20,000 (£17,300) bail.
He was ordered to surrender all his travel documents and to appear once a week at Paphos central police station. He must also refrain from passing through crossing points to Turkish-occupied areas of Cyprus.
Evidence gathered during the police investigation suggested that a trace of alcohol, equivalent to one or two drinks, was detected in the defendant’s blood, a factor that could be considered during the trial.
Plea for father’s release
Petros Stavrou, the family’s lawyer, made several requests over the past eight days for the father to be released from his cell. He pleaded in a letter to Marios Agiotis, assistant chief of police, that the father be allowed out, even under strict bail conditions.
He wrote: “The tragedy that has befallen our client is such that any further detention will only aggravate his already severe psychological condition, as well as that of his family.
“In particular his overriding concern is to be released so he may be with his wife to inform their five-year-old daughter of the death of their two-year-old son, to whom they have so far only told that her brother is in hospital.”
Instead, the delay meant the father was reportedly forced to tell his daughter the news over FaceTime.
The boy has been described by friends of the family as “a truly special, easy-going little boy who brought so much joy to everyone around him”.
“He was deeply adored, and his infectious smile, warm cuddles and kind heart are already so deeply missed and always will be,” one said last week.
The arrest has been criticised both by friends of the family in the UK and in Cyprus, where Christos Triantafyllides, a prominent criminal attorney, said that “in 46 years as a lawyer, I have never seen anything like this”. He previously described the ongoing remand as a “major mistake”.
“From the moment this is not a homicide investigation, there are only two possible scenarios, negligence or an accident,” he said.
“What could this man possibly do if he were released? People are detained only where there is a risk of absconding, a risk of repeating the offence, or in cases such as murder. None of those reasons applies here,” he said.
