British father admits negligence in son's fatal fall at Cyprus hotel
A British man has pleaded guilty in a Paphos court to negligence in the death of his 3-year-old son, who fell from a hotel window during a family holiday in July.
A 37-year-old British man pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge of negligence in the death of his 3-year-old son, who fell from a hotel window during a family holiday in Cyprus, a Paphos District Court judge said.
The defendant, who has not been named publicly, will return to court on October 5 for mitigation and sentencing, judge Froso Christodoulides said. His parents were present in court.
The family was reportedly a few days into their vacation in the southwestern resort town of Paphos in July when the boy fell from the fourth-floor window of the hotel. The circumstances of the fall remain unclear.
His lawyer, Alexandros Alexandrou, said the man decided late on Monday to plead guilty to the single charge of causing death due to negligent and careless actions, mainly to avoid a lengthy trial and spare his family from reliving the events through detailed evidence in court.
A long trial would mean the man becomes "again a victim of this tragedy," Alexandrou said after the hearing. "The most important thing for him is to return to his family," he added, describing the fall as an accident.
The charge carries a maximum of four years' imprisonment and a minimum of a fine. Alexandrou said the court should take into account previous similar cases in which defendants received a fine or a suspended sentence. A judge can suspend a sentence if a defendant is sentenced to three years' imprisonment or less.
The lawyer said he would ask the court to lift travel restrictions against his client so he can rejoin his wife and 5-year-old daughter in the United Kingdom until sentencing. The court last month allowed the defendant to attend his son's funeral in the U.K.
Cyprus Attorney General George Savvides last week denied a request to drop the case on humanitarian grounds. Alexandrou said he would appeal any sentence that imposes the maximum penalty. He declined to give details about his client's identity, saying even authorities have avoided mentioning the man's name in court.
Cyprus, a former British colony, is a popular destination for tourists from the U.K., who make up a significant portion of the roughly 4 million holidaymakers the island nation receives in recent years.