Stylianos Constantinou, who died aged 14 in September 2019, had told school staff about violence he was allegedly suffering at home, a witness told the Nicosia District Court on Monday during the trial over his death. The witness, A.Th., a former special education liaison officer at his primary school in Ayia Varvara, said school was the only place the boy felt safe.
She said Stylianos was the only child who grew sadder as the end of the school day approached, adding that a child who does not want to go home is trying to tell staff something. According to information reaching the school, the boy had allegedly been subjected to physical and psychological abuse. While the school's main role was to help with his learning difficulties, she said, the information coming in showed a need for wider intervention to protect him.
The witness testified that the boy's speech therapist told her he had arrived at a session in pain and unable to sit, saying his father had beaten him with a belt the previous evening, and that marks were visible. She said Stylianos had confided in teachers, his therapist and his carer that his father hit his mother in the stomach while she was pregnant, made him work in the animal pen and killed lambs in front of him. Her handwritten notes, submitted as evidence, also recorded information from his teacher that the father allegedly struck the boy on the soles of his feet to avoid leaving marks.
She described an incident in May 2013, when the then head teacher told her Stylianos had been hit by his father and had left home. She alerted the Social Welfare Services and an officer arrived at the school about half an hour later. According to In-Cyprus, the officer and the boy's mother then filed a written complaint against the father at the local police station, while Cyprus Mail reported that the witness and the social worker filed the complaint. The boy spent the night away from home and returned to school alone the next morning. The witness said it was the first time she felt the obvious was being done, adding that similar immediate action should have been taken earlier.
According to the witness, the mother denied the boy's accounts, insisted conditions at home had improved, called him a fantasist and accused those involved of trying to break up her family. She did not want to report her husband, fearing the consequences for herself and her children, and rejected efforts to persuade her to leave with the children. The mother initially agreed to take Stylianos to a clinical child psychologist but later refused to take him to a child psychiatrist. In November 2014 it was found he still needed psychological support, while the mother said the family could not even afford fuel to take him to appointments.
The witness also criticised the handling of the case by Social Welfare Services officer F.K., the third defendant, saying she was hard to reach and often returned calls days later. Asked by the prosecution whether she had complaints, she replied: "Yes. She did not do what I felt she should have done for this child." The trial, examining possible negligence by the family or state services, will continue on November 4 at 11am.
