On 4 August 2019, a young boy was thrown from the 10th floor of London’s Tate Modern gallery.
Aged six at the time, he survived the 100-foot fall but was left with life-changing injuries. And his family have now given a heartbreaking update that the French boy has had a ‘sad step backward’.
Jonty Bravery pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years in 2020.
Last year, the boy’s family issued an update to say he had been practicing riding a tricycle was continuing to gain ‘cognitive endurance' as well as achieving his goal of being able to run, jump and swim again.
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The fall had left him with multiple broken bones and a bleed on his brain as it’s said he has ‘weakness on the left side’ of his body.
Shared yesterday (14 April), an update on a GoFundMe page for the boy’s medical funds explained he had undergone surgery in January.
However ‘his rehabilitation is proving longer and more difficult than expected’.
“He is still hospitalised in a rehabilitation centre because he is still unable to walk,” the family said.
“He has only been able to have weekend leave for the past three weeks, in a wheelchair, which frustrates him greatly: it feels like a sad step backward.”
While they don’t know how much longer the ‘hospitalisation will have to continue’, they said he is ‘eager’ to be able to walk again and ‘resume a normal life’.
“Even if this normal life means spending half his time in treatment and only the other half at school,” they added.
The family also explained that they have ‘finally found a school perfectly suited to his needs’ and have therefore moved to accommodate his attendance.
The schedule takes into account his fatigue levels but still allows him to attend all his classes and his treatments,” they said.
“In a very short time, he made new friends who have stayed in touch despite his extended absence. They encourage him and eagerly await his return. It's a warm welcome he hasn't received at school in a long time.”
The boy is described as ‘courageous as ever’ and is continuing to ‘fight and train’.
Bravery was 17 at the time of the attack and was in supported accommodation but allowed out unsupervised.
The court was told that the autistic teen intended to select and kill someone. He was a stranger to the young child who was visiting London with his family from France.
Jess Battison