The 37-year-old father of a three-year-old boy from the UK who died after falling from the fourth floor of a hotel in Paphos appeared before the Paphos District Court on Monday.
Court proceedings were interrupted when the 37-year-old, while listening to the investigating officer outline the facts of the case, became visibly distraught and emotionally overwhelmed by the tragic outcome, making it impossible for him to continue following the proceedings.
The 37-year-old appeared before the court without legal representation, explaining that his family was in the process of finding a lawyer. Police requested an eight-day detention order as part of their ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding the child's death.
The hearing resumed without the facts being read out again, following a request by the prosecution. The 37-year-old did not object to the application for his eight-day detention.
At the same time, details emerging about the circumstances of the tragedy have caused shock.
According to information available so far, the child's father and grandfather had left their rooms and were on their way to dinner at the hotel where they were staying in Chloraka.
While waiting for the lift to arrive on the fourth floor, the father was holding the three-year-old in his arms and was reportedly playing with him, holding him around the waist and moving him from side to side.
Next to where they were standing was a double window approximately 2.5 to 3 metres long and about 1.2 metres high.
During one of these movements, the child is believed to have slipped from his father's arms and fallen through the opening.
The same information suggests that the father may not have realised that one of the two sections of the window was open.
The child's grandfather was also present when the incident occurred.
The three-year-old boy sustained fatal injuries from the fall from the fourth floor.
It is noted that during Monday's court appearance, the 37-year-old was accompanied by his parents-in-law.
The British family also has a five-year-old daughter, and Sunday had been the first day of their holiday.
They had been due to return home on July 25.
The tragedy occurred at around 6pm on Sunday, when the three-year-old, who was staying at a hotel in Paphos district with his parents, fell from the fourth floor of the building under circumstances that remain under investigation.
Police were informed at 6.40pm, by which time the child had already been taken by ambulance to Paphos General Hospital.
Despite the efforts of doctors, the child was pronounced dead.
The scene remains under police guard while investigations continue into the exact circumstances of the tragedy.
Authorities' inquiries are ongoing, and five statements have so far been taken.
A post-mortem examination was scheduled for Monday at 12 noon at the Nicosia mortuary and was to be conducted by forensic pathologists Angeliki Papetta and Orthodoxos Orthodoxou.
