Greek court acquits Briton of son's balcony murder
HANIA, Greece (AFP) — A Greek court on Wednesday ruled that a British tourist who killed his son and injured his daughter plunging from a hotel balcony on the holiday island of Crete was not guilty of murder because of mental impairment at the time.
A court in the town of Hania accepted the arguments of John Hogan, 33, that he "didn't know what he was doing" when he leaped from the balcony following a quarrel with his then wife Natasha.
Natasha Hogan had told the court that her husband threw their six-year-old son Liam from the fourth-floor balcony and then jumped himself, holding their two-year-old daughter Mia in his arms, during an argument in August 2006.
The family were on holiday at the popular resort of Ierapetra in an effort to patch up their frayed marriage, but Hogan's ex-wife told the court she had frequently quarrelled with her husband during the trip.
Hogan was charged with premeditated murder over the death of his son and attempted murder for seriously injuring his daughter, and faced up to 25 years in prison.
His lawyer had insisted that the accused had serious psychological problems, citing the testimony of a psychiatrist who examined Hogan in Athens and also pointing out that the Hogan family has a history of mental disorder.
Two of the accused's brothers also committed suicide, one by jumping off a bridge, the other by taking an overdose of medication.
The judge ruled that Hogan, who had been held at the psychiatric hospital ward of Athens' Korydallos top security prison for more than a year, should be placed in a psychiatric unit.
Natasha Hogan expressed surprise, having expected a guilty verdict.
"I lost my child unjustly," she said.
