Details heard in trial of British father whose son took fatal fall in Cyprus hotel

PAPHOS, Cyprus (AP) — A British man accidentally let his 3-year-old slip from his hands as he held the child up to look out a hotel window in Cyprus, causing him to fall to his death, a defense lawyer told a court Tuesday.

The account was part of evidence that was read out for the first time in court by both the defense and prosecution about the July 12 incident. The 38-year-old father has pleaded guilty to a charge of negligence.

The court heard that the defendant, his son and his father-in-law were making their way to the elevator from their fourth-floor room at the King Evelthon hotel in Paphos.

The father lifted the child to look out a window at the hotel’s waterpark when the boy slipped and tumbled 12 meters (about 40 feet), falling to his death.

His lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, said the defendant didn’t recall the circumstances of the fall because it happened so quickly. But he and his father-in-law had told investigators that they thought the glass windowpane was shut.

Cypriot law prohibits a defendant from being named before the defendant is formally identified in court proceedings, unless the defendant does so voluntarily. His lawyer told the court that he works as an auditor at a major U.K. firm.

Prosecutor Chryso Perganti said that the boy was pronounced dead in hospital a couple of hours after his fall, having suffered multiple skull and bone fractures and damage to his vital organs. She also said a blood sample taken from the defendant roughly six hours after the boy’s fall showed that he had consumed alcohol but was under the legal limit.

Alexandrou said his client’s alcohol consumption had no bearing on the case because there was nothing to indicate he was impaired at the time of the incident.

The defendant, sitting in the dock, was visibly distraught and constantly wiped tears from his eyes as he heard the translator recount the details. His parents were also sitting in the rear of the courtroom, his mother’s eyes red from weeping.

Alexandrou pleaded for leniency for his client, and the judge said she would rule on Oct. 16.

Cyprus, a former British colony, is very popular with tourists from the U.K., who make up a significant portion of the roughly 4 million holidaymakers the island nation received in recent years.