The lawyer for a British father fined over the death of his two-year-old son, who fell from a hotel window in Cyprus, said on Friday that the case should never have gone to court, Sky News reported.
Alexandros Alexandrou, the lawyer for Joshua Foster, said after the hearing at Paphos District Court that the case had interrupted his client’s grieving. Speaking through a translator, he said the family now needed to return to the UK “to grieve properly” after being focused on their defence. He described Foster as an incredible father, a very good husband and an exemplary family man with a supportive family behind him.
Foster, 37, an auditor from Essex, was fined 3,000 euros (2,500 pounds) after pleading guilty to causing death through a reckless, rash or dangerous act, according to Sky News. His son fell from a window of a hotel in Paphos district on July 12.
Foster held back tears as District Judge Froso Christodoulidou read out the sentence, and hugged his lawyers and parents after the 25-minute hearing, Sky News said. Speaking to reporters outside the court, he thanked people for their support and said: “I’m looking forward to going home and being with my wife and daughter.”
What the court heard
The court had previously heard that Foster placed the boy on a windowsill so that he could see a waterpark, believing the window was closed, and lost control of him. According to the evidence, the boy fell nearly 40 feet.
Foster, his wife, their two children and his in-laws had arrived in Cyprus in the early hours of that morning, the court heard. The family had spent time in the pool and returned to their rooms to get ready for dinner when the boy noticed the waterpark.
Alexandrou told the court that Foster had been enjoying a happy moment on holiday when he placed his son on the windowsill, not realising that section of the window was open. The boy then fell, in a moment the lawyer said would “haunt him for the rest of his life”.
The boy was pronounced dead at Paphos General Hospital despite efforts to resuscitate him, Sky News reported. In a voluntary statement to police, Foster said the boy fell before he had a chance to grab him.
A blood sample taken from Foster at the hospital afterwards put his estimated alcohol concentration at 124mg at the time of the incident, the court heard. Alexandrou said there was no testimony that Foster was drunk and that alcohol consumption had not formed a significant part of the case against him.
Foster has no previous convictions, and his remorse was clear, the lawyer added. The window was 2.85 metres wide and 1.2 metres high, the court heard.
Information from Sky News
(Featured image from AP)
