Cyprus attorney general rejects bid to drop case of UK boy’s fatal fall

PAPHOS, Cyprus -- The lawyer for a British man charged with negligence in the falling death of his 3-year-old son from a Cyprus hotel window said Thursday his client was disappointed that the attorney general denied a request to dismiss the case on humanitarian grounds.

The 37-year-old defendant, who authorities haven’t named publicly, was accompanied by his parents to court Thursday in the coastal resort town of Paphos. He was due to plead to a single charge of causing death due to negligent and careless actions. But Judge Froso Christodoulides granted his request to postpone proceedings until Tuesday.

Lawyer Alexandros Alexandrou said he was surprised that Attorney General George Savvides denied the request to dismiss the case.

State prosecutors told the court that although the attorney general understands the defendant's grief, the case must proceed as a matter of public interest.

The defendant and his family were reportedly a few days into their vacation at Cyprus’ southwestern resort town of Paphos in July when the boy fell from the hotel’s fourth-floor window.

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The circumstances of the fall remain unclear.

The court last month had lifted all travel restrictions imposed on the defendant so he could attend his son's funeral and be with his family back in the U.K. Alexandrou said he returned to Cyprus a few days ago.

He said he would consider asking the court to allow his client to travel back and forth from the U.K. if he chooses to plead not guilty, and proceedings take longer than the estimated two to three weeks if he pleaded guilty. He said that his client's oldest daughter needs her father.

The lawyer said his client faces a maximum prison sentence of four years — which can be served in a U.K. prison — and a minimum sentence of a fine. For the judge to hand down a suspended sentence, his client must be sentenced to at least three years imprisonment, he said.