The teenager accused of hurling a six-year-old boy from the top of the Tate Modern is facing a series of psychiatric tests to decide if he is fit to stand trial next year, the Old Bailey heard today.
The French child fell 100ft after allegedly being snatched from his mother’s arms in the London art gallery’s 10th floor viewing platform last Sunday, August 4.
He landed on the fifth floor roof and was airlifted to hospital and is now in a stable, but critical condition, after suffering fractures to his spine legs and arms, and a bleed to the brain.
Wearing a baby blue t-shirt stuffed roughly into grey sweatpants, The 17-year-old from Ealing, who cannot be named because of his age, is still sporting a black eye after being punched by a witness to his alleged attempt to kill the boy.
Craig Crosbie, defending, briefly spoke to his client through the glass of the dock in Court Six of the Central Criminal Court, before telling the court: ‘We are going to be instructing a psychiatrist with a view to accessing fitness to plea.’
A French boy, six, allegedly thrown from the roof on Sunday, is treated on the roof of the Tate Modern’s Blavatnik building
The victim was with his mother at the Tate Modern viewing deck on the tallest point of the gallery (right) and landed on the flat roof on left hand side, around five floors down
The teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared at the Old Bailey this morning (pictured today)
The shaven-headed defendant then spoke only to confirm name, age and gave his nationality as British.
Members of the public packed into the gallery of the court as the frowning teenager addressed the clerk.
His right eye is still badly bruised after an incident at the Tate immediately following the boy’s fall and the teenager squinted expressionlessly.
The case has attracted huge interest in France and reporters from the French media sat in the well of the court
Deanna Herr, prosecuting, did not open the facts of the case.
The judge, Sir Nicholas Hilliard told the teenager that his defence barrister would explain everything that had happened in the court to him.
‘The defendant will be remanded to youth detention accommodation,’ the judge added.
He was then led back out of the dock and to the cells.
The youth from Ealing, is charged with attempted murder.
He will appear again at the Old Bailey on November 7 for a plea and trial preparation hearing ahead of a two-week trial expected to start on February 2 2020.
Police had sealed off the viewing area and officers were seen pointing downwards from where the child was allegedly hurled down in the aftermath
The teenager allegedly grabbed a boy, six, and threw him from the viewing platform at the Tate Modern on Sunday with the child landing around five floors down on a roof out of picture on the left
People inside the gallery looked visibly distressed by what had occurred at the gallery on Sunday but the child is expected to survive the attack
The child, part of a French family visiting London on holiday, fell 100ft after being snatched and thrown from the tenth floor viewing platform in one ‘very swift’ movement.
He landed on the art gallery’s fifth floor roof and was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition having suffered fractures to his spine, legs and arms, the court heard.
Mark Welte, a writer from San Francisco, said he had to restrain the boy’s mother after hearing a commotion and a ‘primal scream’. ‘Someone said someone had thrown a child over. I leapt up and looked over the rail and I did indeed see a child down below there,’ he said.
‘The child’s mother then tried to climb the rail. I restrained her and pulled her back.’
The boy’s condition improved to ‘stable but critical’ – with his family still holding a bedside vigil.
Mr Massey thanked members of the public who pinned a teenage suspect to the floor, allowing officers to arrest him when they arrived.
Police were called to the London art gallery at around 2.40pm on Sunday and put it into lockdown. Witnesses described hearing the boy’s mother scream ‘my son, my son’ as she rushed to the lifts to try to reach him below.
Olga Malehevska was on the viewing platform with her four-year-old son when she heard visitors shout: ‘Oh my God, the boy dropped.’
The Ukrainian journalist said: ‘I was standing on the balcony with my little one and he was touching the fence and we were taking pictures.’
Olga Malehevska (pictured yesterday), who was on the viewing platform at Tate Modern gallery in London with her four-year-old, said she could hear people say ‘Oh my God, the boy dropped’, and also saw a woman crying, shaking and shouting ‘oh my son, my son’. Social media producer Isabella Knazek (right) also witnessed the incident
She said she heard a noise and felt some pushing, adding: ‘I just felt like something was going on, I should take my child out of there immediately and we tried to go toward the exit.’ Miss Malehevska said she saw the victim’s mother crying, shaking and shouting: ‘Oh my son, my son.’
A spokesman for Tate Modern said the gallery was open yesterday but the viewing platform was shut out of respect.
The platform, which has a chest-high barrier, is part of the Tate’s £260million Blavatnik extension.
Police are continuing to appeal for further witnesses to come forward.