Teenager pleads guilty to throwing boy off balcony at Tate Modern in London

A teenager who threw a 6-year-old boy off a balcony at the Tate Modern museum in London in August pleaded guilty Friday to one count of attempted murder, according to authorities.

The teenager, Jonty Bravery, from the Ealing area west of London, admitted at London’s Old Bailey criminal court to throwing the unidentified boy at the art museum with the intention of killing him so he could be on the news, according to a news release from the Crown Prosecution Service, which handles criminal prosecutions in both England and Wales.

Bravery, 18, will be sentenced on Feb 17, the release said.

The boy, a French citizen, was visiting England with his family on Aug 4 when Bravery tossed him from the art gallery’s 10th-floor viewing platform, the release said.

The child landed on the fifth-floor roof and suffered fractures and bleeding in his brain. The museum, which holds modern and contemporary art and sits on the south bank of the River Thames, was put on a temporary lockdown.

The 10th floor is a popular destination for visitors, as it offers a 360-degree view of London.

The museum did not immediately return a request for comment Friday regarding Bravery’s guilty plea.

A man who witnessed the crime and was at a cafe on the 10th floor said he had seen a woman run to the scene and scream that it was her son. The boy was treated at the site and then airlifted to a hospital.

Asked why he had thrown the boy, Bravery, then 17, said it was the fault of social services, the witness said. Security guards eventually escorted Bravery to a bathroom for his own security, after a bystander punched him in the face, the witness said.

“This devastating and shocking incident at the Tate Modern on 4 August of this year changed the lives of Bravery’s young victim and his family forever,” Emma V Jones, a senior crown prosecutor, said in the release.

Bravery singled out the boy, she said, adding it was “extraordinary” that he had survived.

“Eye witness accounts and CCTV footage, along with Bravery’s admissions at the time of the arrest that his actions were pre-planned, meant he had little choice but to accept responsibility for his actions,” she said. “This was a terrifying experience for the boy’s parents and our thoughts are very much with them.”

According to The Associated Press, Bravery’s lawyer, Philippa McAtasney, said that he had been determined to have autistic spectrum disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and likely a personality disorder. McAtasney did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.

A GoFundMe page for the boy had raised more than $170,000 as of Friday night local time.

The boy still needs “intensive rehabilitation” as he has not regained mobility in all his limbs and his cognitive capacities, the family said in a statement provided by London’s Metropolitan Police in a news release Friday, adding that the family is exhausted.

“Life stopped for us four months ago,” the statement said. “We don’t know when, or even if, we will be able to return to work, or return to our home, which is not adapted for a wheelchair.”

© 2019 New York Times News Service