Father Throws Kids From Balcony

[Pagan]

Balcony-death father could face trial again for murder after coroner ruling

By DAN NEWLING
Last updated at 08:55 28 March 2008

The father who pushed his six-year-old son to his death from a fourth-floor balcony could be tried again for murder after his ex-wife declared that "justice has so far not been done".

As an inquest yesterday found that John Hogan "unlawfully killed" his son Liam in Crete, British police put in motion the legal moves that could see him face a retrial.

Officers have sent a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, where it will be reviewed to see if a case could be brought based on the testimony of previouslyunheard witnesses.

The Hogan family: New eye witnesses claimed John Hogan (far left) actually threw his son Liam (centre) and daughter Mia off the balcony after a row with his wife Natasha

One told the Bristol inquest into Liam's death she saw 33-year- old Hogan deliberately push his son from the hotel balcony 50ft up. The testimony was not heard at the Greek murder trial where Hogan was found not guilty after claiming to have been suffering from "an earthquake of insanity".

After the inquest Liam's mother Natasha Visser, who was Hogan's wife at the time her son died but who has since remarried, bitterly criticised the Greek legal system's failure to hold her former husband to account.

Shuddering with emotion, she described how she will remain haunted by the three hitherto-unknown British witnesses' descriptions of her son falling to his death.

Mrs Visser, 35, who claims that Hogan remains dangerous, added: "The Greek court made little attempt to establish the facts surrounding Liam's death and did not even call known eyewitnesses.

"We understand that the decision about what happens next legally is in the hands of the English legal system.

"We can only trust that they will re- examine the evidence as a whole and make a decision that will protect John from himself and others."

She went on: "I cannot describe the pain I feel hearing that John had pushed his children off the balcony . . . walking away and then returning to push them.

"The image of the children looking like they were trying to reach out to each other will haunt me and my family for ever."

Hogan, from Bradley Stoke, near Bristol, turned killer during an argument with his then-wife on holiday in August 2006.

The former floor-tiler threw his two-year-old daughter Mia and Liam from the balcony before jumping himself. Mia survived.

Continued with pics @
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...er-ruling.html

[Silvahalo]

What a very sad, sad story. The father will forever have to live with the fact that he killed his son and left a family torn apart with grief. Was it insanity?? you'd have to be nuts to do something like this. I say his hell is now and forever.

[Marv]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...illed-son.html

A father who pushed his two children over a hotel balcony before jumping after them did unlawfully kill his six-year-old son, a coroner ruled.
[...]

He and Mia survived with broken bones but tragic Liam died from head injuries after the death plunge in Crete in 2006.

A coroner originally ruled Liam's death unlawful but this was overturned by the High Court because evidence suggesting Hogan was insane at the time of the killing was ignored.

But a second inquest this week heard bombshell new testimony from a British forensic psychiatrist who claimed the father would not have been insane when he jumped.

Avon Coroner Maria Voisin yesterday backed the original decision into little Liam's death, ruling that Hogan was not insane and had unlawfully killed the schoolboy.

It raises the possibility that Hogan could face criminal charges in Britain, where he is currently sectioned in a mental hospital.
[...]

The inquest heard how John Hogan angrily screamed 'do you think I'm from a family of death?' at wife Natasha - moments before his balcony plunge.

Hogan, who has two brothers who committed suicide, had been arguing with his wife about her decision to move in with her mum when they returned from holiday.

He said he could not remember hurling his kids over ledge.

Hogan was arrested but cleared of murder by a Greek court in January 2008 - after being deemed 'mentally incapable' of understanding his actions.

Two months later Avon Coroner Paul Forrest ruled the death of Liam was unlawful, after hearing the new eyewitness evidence at a two-day inquest.
[...]

But a High Court challenge saw the decision overturned in May 2009 - triggering the second inquest.

It was claimed that psychiatric evidence from Professor Yannis Nesteros and Dr Markos Skondras had not been taken into account.

Both Greek experts concluded that Hogan was mentally incapable of understanding his actions and had exploded during a psychotic episode.

But the new inquest, held over two days at Avon Coroner's Court in Flax Bourton, near Bristol, heard devastating evidence from forensic psychiatrist Dr Akintundi Akinkummi.
[...]

He said: 'I can find no previous evidence that satisfied me that he was suffering from any such defect of reasoning and that any such defect was caused by disease of the mind.

'I could not find any evidence that he did not know the quality of his act - in that it was likely to have caused serious injury.

'I conclude from my examination of the documentation I am satisfied that I do not believe that Mr Hogan can properly be described as having a defect of reasoning arising from disease of the mind.'
[...]

Hogan's mother Josephine, 70, was in court to hear the coroner's verdict, but his former partner Natasha, who has since emigrated to Australia with her new husband and Mia, did not attend.

The dad could not give evidence or attend the second inquest into his young son's death - because he has now been sectioned.

He had been staying as a voluntary patient at the £35million Callington Road Hospital in Brislington, Bristol.

[Tundratot]

Interesting case. It happened in Greece and he was cleared there, but the British courts got involved. (Presumably because their citizens were both victim and perp.)

Yeah, he wasn't insane right up until he threw the kids from the balcony. That was hot rage. As insanity, I don't think it counts. Anyway, that was a coroner's report. Will there now be charges and a trial, likely followed by some slap-on-the-wrist sentence?