Attorney-general to decide father’s fate

The attorney-general is expected to decide on Friday whether criminal proceedings will be brought against the 37-year-old British father remanded following the death of his three-year-old son, who fell from a fourth-floor hotel window in Paphos. The father was remanded on Sunday for eight days on suspicion of causing death by a rash or negligent act, as well as failing in his duty as the head of a family and as a person responsible for the care of another. Speaking to the Cyprus Mail his lawyer, Petros Stavrou, criticised the decision to keep his client in custody, saying that there was no justification for his continued detention while the investigation was ongoing. “Everything I had to say, I said in my letter which was sent on Tuesday 14th to the police. I asked for the man to be released,” Stavrou told the Cyprus Mail. He added that if authorities believed there was a risk the father could leave Cyprus, less restrictive measures were available. “Take his passports if you believe there is such a risk,” he said. A point which is included in the letter he tells the Cyprus Mail, which he had sent to the police, including reporting to Paphos central police station at specified dates and times, and providing authorities with his exact residential address in Cyprus in writing. He said his client had appeared before the court alone and without legal representation. “He was given the option of having a lawyer as a matter of procedure, but he simply was not in a condition to decide something like that,” Stavrou said, adding that the father was suffering from severe psychological trauma. Stavrou questioned the length of the remand order whilst understanding that an investigation has to take place. In a letter submitted to police Stavrou argued that his client’s continued detention was further aggravating his already fragile psychological state following the death of his son. The lawyer said the father’s immediate concern was to be released so that he and his wife could tell their five-year-old daughter about the death of her younger brother. “His only wish is to be released so that, together with his wife, they can inform their five-year-old daughter of the death of their three-year-old child,” the letter states, noting that the couple have so far only told the girl that her brother is in hospital. The letter also states that the father appeared before the court while suffering “an indescribable psychological collapse” and without legal representation, adding that because of his mental state he did not object to the eight-day remand order. The case stems from the death of the three-year-old boy at a hotel in Paphos last weekend. According to police, the child fell from a fourth-floor window while his father was holding him near the lift area outside their hotel room as the family was preparing to go to dinner. According to reports the father was playing with the child in his arms when the boy slipped through an open section of a sliding window, which he had allegedly not realised was open. The child fell to the ground below and later died from his injuries. Police have said toxicology tests carried out on the father were negative. During Monday’s remand hearing, proceedings were briefly interrupted because of the father’s emotional state before resuming. The court granted police an eight-day remand to complete their investigation. The completed case file is now expected to be submitted to the attorney-general, who will decide on Friday whether criminal charges will be filed against the father or whether the case will proceed no further.