The 14-year-old Stylianos’s statement that his father “beats the sheep, my mother, the lambs, and me,” which he made to his first-grade teacher, was described by the teacher herself during today’s hearing before the Nicosia District Court regarding the case of his death. She also testified that she had seen abrasions, a head injury, and a cigarette burn mark on his body.
A prosecution witness at today’s hearing was E.S., who taught Stylianos in first grade during the 2010–2011 school year. Reading from the statement she had given in 2020 to one of the criminal investigators handling the case, following Stylianos’s death, she described the child’s behavior at school, the difficulties he faced, and what, as she stated, the school knew about his family environment.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
According to her testimony, Stylianos, who was about six years old at the time, had a school aide and exhibited behavioral problems throughout the school year. He would push desks, injuring other students; he had a tendency to run away; and he would do push-ups in the classroom “to get strong so he could beat them all up,” as he put it.
The teacher reported that the child seemed to admire his father, but at the same time feared and hated him because of his behavior toward his mother. As she said, Stylianos had told her that his father “beats everyone—my mom, the lambs, and me.”
Regarding his pre-elementary education, the witness stated that she had been informed he was unable to keep up with the class and exhibited aggressive behavior.
In first grade, she noted, he had a limited vocabulary and general knowledge and did not have the access to books and educational materials expected for his age. As she explained, he did not know, for example, what dinosaurs were.
Describing his demeanor at school, the witness said that on the first day he was “a very polite child, very reserved, thin, and well-behaved.” Over time, however, as she noted, “smudges appeared on his face and hands,” while his clothes were often worn for several days, were stained, and gave off a foul odor.
According to the witness, there were also problems with his diet. When she or his caregiver asked him if he had eaten at home, he usually said he ate bread, olives, or pasta, and he often said he was hungry—something that, she said, happened on a weekly basis. “He usually didn’t bring food to school, and his chaperone would often buy it for him herself,” she noted.
The witness also mentioned that Stylianos was very thin but muscular, and he said he was strong because he worked. As she said, he was not seen participating in sports activities at school. The school asked him to attend an after-school program so he could get something to eat and not have to work, but the boy only went for a very short time.
According to the witness, the school kept the Social Welfare Services (YKE) informed of the problems they observed, including issues related to hygiene, meals, and the child’s reports of violence at home.
Regarding the marks on his body, the teacher said she had seen scrapes two or three times. On one occasion, she reported, Stylianos arrived with “a cut on his head and clotted blood on his head,” though he himself claimed he had hit a tree. The incident was reported to the Police through the school administration.
He also testified that he had seen a cigarette burn mark on the boy’s body and reported it immediately. The mark, he said, was not fresh. According to the information the school received from the YKE, teachers were supposed to look for fresh marks, as they had been told that the YKE could only proceed with the case if there were recent marks.
The witness then referred to a multidisciplinary meeting in March 2011, in which the father participated for the first time, and during which, among other things, the family’s living conditions and issues regarding Stylianos’s behavior.
The teacher testified that the father was reportedly offended by what was discussed, went home, took his hunting rifle, and returned to the school, where he threatened to “cut off her legs.”
The witness also referred to Stylianos’s behavior after the comprehensive exams. As she said, his parents allegedly told him that the teachers were speaking ill of him and wanted to take him away from his family, and that a “woman who preys on young girls.”
“Stylianos would come the next day and ask, with great anger, if we’d said those things about him; he’d clench his teeth. He was so angry he wouldn’t listen. We had to talk to him for a long time before he understood what we were saying and calmed down,” he said.
As she explained, the school had asked the parents not to relay to him what was discussed in the multidisciplinary meetings, since “we were there to help.”
Referring to the child’s academic performance, the witness said that by Easter, he had learned addition up to ten and mental arithmetic up to five, while the other students were moving on to multiplication and division.
As she noted, following a multidisciplinary meeting, the school was informally notified of the assessment results, according to which the child was reportedly of “borderline intelligence.”
The witness also stated that, according to what Stylianos told her at school, stray dogs often came to the farm and attacked the lambs. Furthermore, she said, the child was particularly fond of one of the lambs, which his father allegedly slaughtered “as an example.” According to the witness, Stylianos cried, apologized to him, and said he would never do it again; however, his father ultimately slaughtered the lamb.
Regarding the child’s mother, the witness said that she had initially told her that the father was violent toward both her and Stylianos. As she testified, her mother had said that her husband had hit her one day because she hadn’t cooked, even though she was having trouble waking up in the morning due to medication. When she asked her fellow villagers for help, her husband, according to what he told the witness, would get angry.
The witness said that later on, the mother no longer reported incidents of violence to her and described her in some instances as “confused,” explaining that there were difficulties communicating with her.
As for Stylianos, she noted that during breaks he often preferred to sit alone and talk with his school aide. When encouraged to play with the other children, he would say he preferred to rest and appeared to lack energy.
“He was a reserved child, but I think he was overwhelmed by his difficulties and his thoughts. I don’t think that was his true personality,” she noted.
The defense’s cross-examination of the witness will begin on September 11 at 11:00 a.m.
The case concerns the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of 14-year-old Stylianos Konstantinou, in September 2019, with the Court examining possible liability both within the family and on the part of state agencies.
Source: CNA
