A senior city professional whose two-year-old son fell to his death from an open hotel window in Cyprus could be struck off the register after admitting responsibility for causing the child’s death, a court has heard.
Joshua Foster, 37, an AI director at KPMG, had placed his son on a windowsill on July 12 so he could “see the view” from the fourth floor of the five-star King Evelthon Hotel.
Foster was unaware that the hotel’s 2.85m by 1.2m windows were open. He then “lost control and contact with his son”, who slipped and fell 33ft.
Prosecutors said Foster watched the toddler fall before taking the lift downstairs and running to the veranda below, where he found his son unconscious.
His wife, who cannot be named, was alerted and hurried to the scene, where she held the child in her arms, prosecutor Chryso Pergandi told the court.
The boy suffered multiple skull fractures and could not be saved despite attempts to resuscitate him.
Foster, who is from Essex, was arrested and held on remand in a case local media described as one of the cruellest acts by Cypriot police.
He pleaded guilty last month to causing the death of his child, reportedly hoping the authorities would show mercy and impose a suspended sentence that would enable him to return to the UK to grieve.
Joshua Foster, a 37-year-old KPMG AI director, pleaded guilty over the death of his two-year-old son, who fell from a hotel window in Cyprus
The toddler was the third British tourist to die at the five-star King Evelthon Hotel near Paphos in four years
The offence carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Even if Foster avoids jail, however, his conviction could lead to him being struck off as an auditor.
Foster appeared emotional at a mitigation hearing at Paphos District Court today, wiping tears from his eyes ahead of sentencing next week.
Defence lawyer Alexandros Alexandrou told the court that Foster’s “remorse is clear”, saying the family had suffered “a huge destruction of their family balance”.
“We do not have a person before you who is isolated from family responsibilities,” he said. “We have a father, husband and a person who contributes to society.”
Mr Alexandrou said Foster had been informed by the board of auditors that he would face disciplinary proceedings, with a real possibility that his career would be affected and that he could be removed from the register.
“That means a real consequence is before him,” the lawyer said. “The professional consequences can be taken into account.”
Mr Alexandrou also questioned whether imprisoning Foster would serve the public interest, asking what a prison sentence would achieve in terms of deterrence when there was “no recurring theme”.
He said Foster understood the seriousness of the case and had already experienced “the most destructive and severe consequence of his actions”.
Mr Foster placed the toddler on a windowsill at the King Evelthon Hotel near Paphos while waiting for the lift, unaware that the window was open.
“This is his punishment,” the lawyer said. “This will not end with two or three years in prison. This is a punishment he and his family will bear for the rest of their lives.”
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Foster had arrived at the hotel near Paphos in the early hours of July 12 with his wife, son, five-year-old daughter, and parents-in-law.
After having drinks by the pool in the afternoon he returned to his room before going to the lift with his son and father-in-law to meet the rest of the family for dinner.
Foster ‘held his child in his arms, walked, played, just as any father would in a pleasant, joyous moment of their life while on vacation’, Mr Alexandours said.
Some distance from the window, he ‘was swinging the child in the air for fun’ – but it was accepted this had no bearing on the case and occurred before the tragedy.
Later, thinking there was ‘protective glass’ on the window, he momentarily placed his son on the windowsill ‘to see the view’ when he tragically fell.
After Foster’s arrest, a blood sample was taken to detect alcohol or drugs which show he had 34mg of alcohol per 100ml – equivalent to about one drink.
Lab tests estimated that at the time of the accident it would have been 124mg – around four drinks – but this did not form a major part of the prosecution.
Mr Alexandrou said he is ‘not asking to ignore the consumption of alcohol’ but added: ‘He was on holiday, at the pool on vacation it’s something that happens.
‘But we need to separate two separate things. One thing to have alcohol in his bloodstream and another to say the alcohol is the reason that led to this incident.’
He said there was no testimony from the father-in-law or other witnesses ‘that he was walking drunk’ or ‘had obvious signs of being drunk’.
Mr Alexandrou added: ‘Immediately after the incident, he went downstairs, ran down, trying to bring the child back to consciousness, had to interact with people at the hotel, with the hospital staff, and police.
‘No one said there was a state of mind that would reach such a conclusion.’
He said immediately after the tragedy Foster was ‘in jail’.
Mr Alexandrou said: ‘He was grieving his child, the other child did not know about the condition of her brother, he was in jail, his wife in a state that the human mind cannot grasp….he had called his daughter to explain what happened.
‘I say this not to invoke the pity of the court but that all this for any conscientious family man is a punishment.
‘He admitted guilt, and he admits the momentary oversight that will haunt him for the rest of his life. From joy to sorrow.
‘We’re allowed, even when we’re happy, to lose our concentration. And in that moment he was happy, he held his child.’
Judge Froso Christodoylidou said: ‘It was a moment of relaxation.’
Prosecutor Chryso Pergandi said none of the facts are disputed.
The case was adjourned for sentencing on October 16.
