‘I couldn’t comprehend why Hogan pushed the kids'

Mar 27 2008 Western Mail

NEW eyewitnesses to the death of six-year-old Liam Hogan came forward for the first time yesterday to describe seeing him "pushed" off a hotel balcony in Crete.

The holidaymakers, who did not give evidence during the trial of father John Hogan in Crete, gave dramatic accounts at an inquest. One shouted, “Oh my god – he’s killed his kids,” as she watched Liam reach for his little sister as they plummeted 50ft to the ground.

Liam died of severe head injuries after falling from the balcony at the Petra Mare Hotel, in Crete, with his father John and sister Mia, then aged two.

The witnesses told his inquest they saw the children and their father on the fourth floor balcony before the plunge.

Sarah Davidson broke down in tears as she recounted seeing the three plunge to the ground.

Waiting for a coach outside the hotel at 11pm with her husband and two children, Mrs Davidson said she heard an “horrific” argument from a room above her.

She said, “I looked up straightaway. That’s when I saw two children stood on the balcony on the edge.

“I noticed they had clothing on. At first I thought they were between eight and 12 years old. They were stood there motionless.

“The male voice – I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but it was so horrific. That’s when the male came forward and pushed them off.”

She added, “As they fell, he grabbed the railings and plunged himself off. He went down head first. He didn’t have his arms out to stop himself.

“I couldn’t comprehend why he pushed them or didn’t try and reach out for them. I just couldn’t believe it.”

Liam died instantly but Hogan and Mia survived with broken limbs following the tragedy, on August 15, 2006.

Kerry Jackman, a friend of Mrs Davidson who was also waiting for the coach, said she could hear shouting from a room above her.

She said, “It was almost like a maniac shouting, in a rage almost. There was a muffled voice from the background.

“We looked and said, ‘There’s little children on the balcony’.I saw this figure behind them.

“Instantaneously, I knew something was wrong. I saw two little children coming off the balcony feet-first as if they had been pushed off.

“I looked at Sarah (Davidson), and as I looked back up I saw an adult man falling, slightly above the two children. I shouted, ‘Oh my God, he’s killed his kids.’

“It was just like slow motion, the adult male caught up with the two children, then you just heard thuds on the floor.”

Liam’s mother Natasha Visser, 35, had earlier told the inquest of her rows with ex- husband Hogan on the day of the tragedy. After confirming yesterday that she had married her new partner Richard Visser, from Newport, she told how on the day of the tragedy Hogan threatened to “burn their house” to the ground.

Repeating much of a statement she made in a Greek court earlier this year, the 35-year-old went on to tell how she had heard screaming before it “fell silent”.

She had returned to her room and was organising suitcases when Hogan came in in an “extremely upset” mood, she said. “John said, ‘What the **** are you doing?’

“I said I was trying to close them (the suitcases) and sort them out. He stared at me with a crazed look, which I did not know. Suddenly he had his back turned. He was charging round the room. All I could hear was, ‘John’s packing is s***, John’s packing is s***’.

“Then I turned around and there was no one there. I just heard screaming ‘Oh my God’ down below. I knew at that point he had gone over.”

She added, “I heard Liam crying and crying until it went silent.”

Avon Coroner Paul Forrest had earlier called on Mrs Visser’s family to apologise for sending a statement to the press on the eve of the inquest, at Kings Weston House, Bristol.

Hogan, 33, has been receiving treatment at a psychiatric hospital near Athens since a court cleared him of murder, ruling he was suffering an “earthquake” of psychosis when he took Liam’s life.

After the inquest heard how Liam’s father had suffered a long history of psychosis and depression, Hogan’s lawyer, Matthew Barnes, invited the coroner to consider his mental state in coming to his verdict.

He said, “He was not aware of what he was doing because of the disease of his mind.”

However, Mrs Visser’s mother, Elizabeth Steel, said that contrary to Mr Barnes’s comments, it was not “undisputed” that Hogan was suffering from severe psychosis.

The coroner will announce his verdict today.