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A teenager who threw a 6-year-old boy off a balcony at the Tate Modern museum in London in August pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of attempted murder, according to the 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.
Mr. 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 Mr. Bravery tossed him from the art gallery’s 10th-floor viewing platform, the release said.
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 on Friday regarding Mr. 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, Mr. Bravery, then 17, said it was the fault of social services, the witness said. Security guards eventually escorted Mr. 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.
Mr. 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.”
A GoFundMe page for the boy had raised more than $170,000 as of Friday night local time.
A month after the incident, the boy’s family said he was unable to speak or move his body. Last month, the family said in a statement on the GoFundMe page that they were able to take him outside in a wheelchair to breathe fresh air, adding that the boy had begun to move his legs and laugh again.
