The brave little French boy hurled from the top of the Tate Modern gallery cannot eat and uses his smile to communicate with his parents, it was revealed today.
The child, who fell 100ft after allegedly being snatched from his mother’s arms in the London art gallery’s 10th floor viewing platform, ‘struggles to understand why he can’t move, swallow or talk’.
He landed on a fifth floor roof, suffering fractures to his spine legs and arms and a bleed to the brain on Sunday August 4.
A teenager, who cannot be named, has been charged with trying to murder him in front of dozens of horrified tourists.
His French parents, who have been caring for him in a London hospital, have revealed how he cannot yet move or eat himself because of his injuries.
Paramedics with a stretcher can be seen on the roof of the Blavatnik building at the Tate Modern where the little boy landed after being thrown from the roof
The six-year-old French boy who was thrown from the 10th floor of the Tate Modern has made ‘amazing progress’, according to his family, but struggles to understand why he cannot move
In an update on the boy’s GoFundMe page, which has now raised more than £80,000 in two months, his parents said in an open letter that they had hoped to be able to give ‘better news’ about their boy’s recovery.
They wrote: ‘Our little boy doesn’t know anymore how to speak, to eat or to move his body but he begins to do his best to move his tongue, his right arm and hand. We see his efforts. We believe with all our heart that he will find the way, from his head, to do everything again. He is very brave. He keeps on smiling and reacting to our jokes. We begin to see also, unfortunately, his suffering, since two days, when he understands that he does not manage to move or eat. Actually, he understands everything, but doesn’t understand why he cannot manage to eat or swallow a little bit of yoghurt for instance…and he wants so much to be able to do it…
The statement added: We have to be strong for our little boy. First because he keeps on smiling and making progress bravely, and secondly because we see that you count on us to take care of him. And we sincerely thank you for that’.
The attack on the boy last month appalled Britain.
Police were called to the Tate Modern in London on 2.40pm on Sunday August 4, amid reports a boy had been thrown from the Tate Modern’s viewing platform.
Witnesses described hearing the boy’s mother scream ‘my son, my son’ as she rushed to the lifts to try to reach him below.
The six-year-old faced two long and difficult operations after he was left with a broken back and other broken limbs and suffering a bleed to the brain.
The teenager later charged with attempted murder was punched in the face by one irate man who saw him throw the child over a barrier at the viewing platform on the tenth floor of the central London art gallery. He landed 100ft down on a flat roof, five floors below.
A witness, who did not want to be named, also claimed that security guards had initially taken the suspect into a cafe, believing he was a relative of the victim.
But when he was beaten around the face by a witness he was dragged into one of the toilets and locked inside for his own protection.
One witness said: ‘I heard the impact and then screaming from above as a woman screamed “He’s my son! He’s my son!” I went inside because the screaming was horrific, the boy didn’t make any noise but the people from the viewing platform were screaming.’
Supporters have raised almost £100,000 to cover support French boy’s recovery and any care he may need
A teenager allegedly grabbed a boy, six, and threw him from the viewing platform at the Tate Modern on Sunday August 4 with the child landing around five floors down on the roof
Visitors locked inside the art gallery recorded the arrival of the helicopter at Bankside
Corinne Brookes, 25, arrived at the viewing platform seconds after the incident.
She said: ‘People were screaming and shouting and these two guys looked like they were fighting, they were grabbing each other. The two guys were holding another guy, kind of like they were fighting.
‘I went in and said to the security lady ‘Something’s going on out there’. Then I saw a woman climbing, with her leg and arm over the railing on the balcony.
‘At that point people were grabbing their children and screaming and crying so I just thought something terrible had happened, so I started running down the stairs and other people were running.
‘As I was going downstairs a woman was crying her eyes out and I said ‘Are you OK? What exactly happened?’
‘She said “They’ve thrown him off, someone’s thrown a kid off”.’
The viewing platform, which has a chest-high barrier, is part of the £260million Tate extension known as the Blavatnik Building. It offers a panoramic view over London.
The gallery was the most popular tourist attraction in Britain in 2018, with 5.9million visits, according to the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.