The Paphos District Court is expected to sentence a 37-year-old British man on Friday for causing the death of his three-year-old son through a reckless, rash or dangerous act. The boy fell about 10 metres from the fourth floor of a hotel in Paphos in July.
The court reserved its decision after mitigation hearings ended on 6 October. During the hearing, the alcohol findings were raised. The prosecution said an initial test on the father showed 34mg of alcohol, but a later laboratory report found he had 124mg in his system at the material time.
The defence argued that there was no evidence that drinking had affected his behaviour.
Prosecutor Chryso Perganti set out the facts of the case and the allegations against him. Defence lawyer Alexandros Alexandrou asked the court to impose the lowest possible sentence. He argued that it had been a moment of inattention and that events had unfolded in a fraction of a second.
Alexandrou pointed to his client’s admission of guilt, his clean criminal record and his professional career. He asked that any prison sentence be suspended.
The father remains free under the same conditions until the sentence is announced.
The boy died on the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July, at a hotel in Chloraka, hours after the family arrived in Cyprus on holiday. He fell through an open window while the family was waiting for a lift. The father pleaded guilty on 22 September. In August, the Attorney General rejected a defence request to suspend the prosecution on humanitarian grounds.
