Teen Who Tossed Boy Off Tate Balcony Hears His Fate

Jonty Bravery, 18, gets at least 15 years behind bars, but 'you may never be released,' judge says
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 26, 2020 11:26 AM CDT
Teen Who Threw Boy Off Art Gallery Balcony Is Sentenced
Jonty Bravery.   (Metropolitan Police/PA via AP)

A teen who threw a 6-year-old French boy off a 10th-floor viewing platform at London's Tate Modern art gallery last summer has been sentenced to at least 15 years behind bars—and he could see even more time than that. Per CNN, Justice Maura McGowan told 18-year-old Jonty Bravery on Friday that 15 years was simply the bare minimum she was handing down in the "detention for life" sentence (his release can't be considered before then), and that "you may never be released." Bravery was charged with attempted murder after the Aug. 4, 2019, attack, in which a prosecutor says the then-17-year-old tossed the child over the railing of the viewing platform "without hesitation" when the boy passed by him, per the BBC. The boy landed five floors below. He survived, but with "catastrophic" injuries, including bleeding on the brain and multiple fractures in his spine, arms, and legs.

He's now recovering at a French hospital, where he needs to use a wheelchair and will require 24/7 care for at least two more years. "That little boy has suffered permanent and life-changing injury," McGowan told Bravery during the sentencing. "The fear he must have experienced and the horror his parents felt are beyond imagination. ... You planned this and appeared to revel in the notoriety." Bravery, who's autistic and was under round-the-clock care at the time of the attack, admitted he'd gone to the Tate with the specific intent to kill someone so he could make the news. A former care worker also told the BBC that, a year before the attack, Bravery had mentioned to him how he wanted to kill someone, but that nothing was done when he told his higher-ups. His employer denies any such complaint from the care worker was ever made. (More sentencing stories.)

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