Teen who tossed 6-year-old boy from London’s Tate Modern museum gets at least 15 years behind bars

A teen accused of tossing a young French boy from a viewing platform at the Tate Modern art gallery in London last summer smiled and then shrugged after committing the heinous act, according to prosecutors.

Jonty Bravery, of West London, was sentenced on Friday to at least 15 years behind bars in connection with what Justice Maura McGowan has called an intentional and premeditated attack, BBC News reported.The 18-year-old previously admitted to one count of attempted murder at London’s Old Bailey court back in December.

“I cannot emphasize too clearly that this is not a 15-year sentence. The sentence is detention for life,” McGowan told Bravery. “The minimum term is 15 years. Your release cannot be considered before then, you may never be released.”

During his two-day hearing at Old Bailey this week, the court heard how Bravery sought out the most vulnerable child he could find when he arrived at the Tate Modern on August 4.

“You went to the viewing platform, looked around and spotted the victim and his family and went to the boy and threw him over the railing. The fear he must have experienced and the horror his parents felt are beyond imagination,” McGowan added.

“What you did on the day of this offense proves you are a grave danger to the public. You planned this and appeared to revel in the notoriety.”

The boy, a tourist who was 6 at the time, was hospitalized with “catastrophic injuries” after he was thrown from the museum’s 10th story. He suffered a bleed to his brain and a number of fractured bones, but survived the fall.

CCTV footage shown in court sees the victim happily skipping ahead of his family when Bravery suddenly “scooped him up and, without any hesitation, carried him straight to the railings and threw him over,” said prosecutor Deanna Heer.

“CCTV also shows the defendant backing away from the railings. He can be seen smiling. He has his arms raised and appears to shrug and laugh,” she continued. “CCTV also captured the parents in disbelief and rising panic. They thought there must have been a net but saw their son’s distorted body.”

The boy still requires round the clock care, according to BBC. Heer called the attack “a whisper away from a murder.”