Charlie Smith
THE sister of a British filmmaker who plunged from a balcony in Mallorca has spoken of her heartbreak as her brother remains in a coma in hospital.
Emma Whiteley told the Olive Press last night she was ‘still speechless’ after her brother Carl Whiteley, 39, from Lincolnshire, fell from his first-floor flat in Palma a fortnight ago in mysterious circumstances.
The ‘friend of the stars’ – who mixed with the likes of Sylvester Stallone and Johnny Depp – smashed his head open at around 11pm, following an argument with his wife, Esther Muñoz, 33.
Carl’s sister Emma immediately made the journey from the UK to the Balearics to be with her ‘critically ill’ brother.
“I honestly don’t know what to say,” Emma told the Olive Press after returning to England from Palma’s Son Espases Hospital, where Carl still lays in a coma.
“I miss my brother. His progress is pretty much the same, there is still no change, but we are praying for a recovery.”
Meanwhile his wife Esther denied that she had been in any way involved in his horror plunge on January 30.
She told the Olive Press that her husband, with whom she has a daughter Lucy, nine, may have fallen after a gust of wind or due to being ‘dizzy’ after having a few drinks.
Speaking at Palma’s Son Espases hospital, she insisted that reports in the Mallorquin press that the pair had argued were ‘totally untrue’.
She said: “We argue like other couples, but that’s it, everybody has their own problems.
“The neighbour banged on our door, because she could hear Lucy crying.
“She was upset because of all the noise.”
She explained that the couple had only just moved into a new flat in central Palma and that they were only just getting used to their home.
“It was a windy night and two hours before Carl fell, the wind blew the door open and shut and broke part of the wall,” she explained.
“The balcony door was shut, but when I was in bed I heard it open again and I assumed he had gone for some fresh air.
“Then I heard a noise, ran out and saw him lying his head busted, with blood everywhere and I rang the ambulance straight away.”
The accountant continued, “I just want him to wake up and tell us what happened. I want to be away from this nightmare that we are living.”
After a new brain scan on Carl’s fractured skull, meanwhile, doctors confirmed to his wife that he is stable and has made good progress.
“Doctors have begun to take the morphine off bit by bit,” she confirmed this week, “but we need to keep fighting and praying.”
The mum-of-one said Carl’s lung capacity and oxygen flow had now also improved, meaning the antibiotics are working.
©TheOlivePress
Carl is well-known for his work in cinema, including for writing the script to Empire.
He is also behind the Harry Potter convention DraigCon, based at Manchester’s Printworks.
Emma helped to organise a GoFundMe page with her other brother Chris to pay for any of Carl’s medical bills, with the remaining money going towards brain trauma charities.
The fundraiser met the £5,000 total in just 13 days and one anonymous donor gave a whopping £1,754.
