Tate victim, 6, broke back, arms and legs
As teen who ‘threw him 100ft’ appears in court, it’s revealed child had strayed ‘just feet from parents’
THE boy of six thrown 100ft from the Tate Modern by a stranger suffered a bleed on the brain and a broken back, legs and arms, a court heard yesterday.
The victim, from a French family visiting London on holiday, was said to be unconscious and in a critical but stable condition in hospital after suffering devastating injuries.
The schoolboy had walked just a ‘couple of feet’ away from his parents who were enjoying the view of the capital from the tenth-floor viewing platform at the art gallery by the Thames.
He was suddenly grabbed and thrown over the chest-high barrier in one ‘very swift’ movement, Bromley Youth Court in south London heard. It was only the building’s unusual sloping roof that saved his life as it broke his fall.
Yesterday, his alleged attacker appeared in court sporting a black eye after reportedly being punched by an irate witness moments afterwards.
The 17-year- old boy showed no emotion as he stood in the dock accused of attempting to murder the child on Sunday afternoon. Wearing a prisonissue grey tracksuit, the bearded youth spoke only to confirm his name, age and British nationality in the five-minute hearing.
Sian Morgan, prosecuting, said: ‘This is an incident that took place on August 4. The complainant is a six-year- old child. Visiting the Tate with his parents, they were on the tenthfloor viewing platform.
‘He walked a couple of feet away from his parents. It is then said that the 17-year-old picked him up and threw him over the edge of the viewing platform.’
She added of the incident: ‘It was carried out extremely swiftly and in one movement. The boy fell approximately 100 feet to the fifth floor.
‘He suffered very serious injuries and he is currently in hospital and this includes a deep bleed to his brain and fractures to his spine, legs and arms. The 17-year- old was apprehended by members of the public.’
She told the court that the incident had happened so quickly that it would have been impossible to stop the boy going over the railing.
The prosecutor added: ‘It happened so swiftly it would have been impossible for anyone to stop him. [The young boy’s] fall was broken by the way the building is splayed out.’
The 17-year-old was remanded into youth detention yesterday ahead of a hearing at the Old Bailey tomorrow.
Scotland Yard has said that there is no link between the suspect and the victim of the random attack. The child was with his mother at the Tate Modern at the tallest point of the gallery when the attack happened at about 2.40pm on Sunday.
Mark Welte, a writer from San Francisco, said he had to restrain the boy’s mother after hearing a commotion and a ‘primal scream’.
Detective Chief Inspector John Massey, from the Metropolitan Police, has appealed for witnesses to come forward.
He added: ‘This was a truly shocking incident and people will understandably be searching for answers. At the moment, this is being treated as an isolated event.’
‘Carried out very swiftly’