On Wednesday, his second- and third-grade teacher, S.M., as part of his cross-examination before the Nicosia District Court. The witness rejected the submission by the attorney for Defendant 3, a Social Welfare Services (SWS) employee, Viktor Akama, that he had not informed the principal about the incident.
“It was my duty to inform a member of the school’s violence prevention team. In this case, I informed the principal, who was a member,” the witness stated, adding that there were signs of physical abuse and the child’s claim that they were inflicted by his father. As he said, “From that point on, someone had to come and investigate.”
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According to his testimony, the incident in question occurred when Stylianos was in second grade. While the child was in speech therapy class and complained of lower back pain, the school aide and the speech therapist called the teacher to examine the marks on his body. He stated that he went to the classroom and found that there were marks, which he had been told were related to the child’s father.
The witness stated that either the speech therapist or the school counselor informed Defendant 3, a YKE social worker who was monitoring the family at that time, while he himself informed the principal. He added that the social worker visited the school a few days later, by which time the marks had already faded. He clarified, however, that he had spoken by phone with the third defendant only once.
Mr. Akamas showed the witness a Ministry of Education manual, according to which a person working at a school is required to report incidents when informed that a child is experiencing domestic violence. The witness insisted that his own obligation was to inform a member of the school’s violence prevention team, noting that he had fulfilled this obligation by informing the principal.
At another point during cross-examination, the witness was asked about statements he had made during his direct examination in court that were not included in his preliminary testimony. He stated that after reading his preliminary investigation testimony the previous week, he began to recall details that he might not have mentioned at the time. He added that at the time, he had testified unprepared and emotionally overwhelmed, and had not been asked many clarifying questions.
“I mentioned everything I could remember at the time. There are some things that are painful, and memory tends to push them aside,” he said. At the same time, he rejected the suggestion that what he stated in court—which was not included in his 2020 testimony—did not correspond to reality, and he insisted on the accuracy of his testimony.
Regarding the multi-topic meeting held on December 5, 2012, when Stylianos was a second-grade elementary school student, the witness stated that he himself did not mention any incidents of violence during the meeting, adding that a related discussion may have taken place among the experts before the meeting began. He explained that topics that needed to be discussed without the parents present could be raised in advance, without being recorded in the minutes.
Regarding the decision to terminate Stylianos’s school escort, the witness stated that it was a collective decision, in which those involved in the relevant multidisciplinary team had expressed their views. He noted that he personally had reservations, but the decision to discontinue the escort prevailed. As he explained, he had been told that if any problems arose, the matter would be reconsidered so that the caregiver could return. He therefore rejected the suggestion that he had agreed the child no longer needed her support.
When asked about the child’s meals at school, he stated that the cafeteria manager had informed him that, at some point during the school year, she had agreed with the mother that Stylianos would get food from the cafeteria and that the mother would pay for it. He disputed the claim that the agreement had been in effect since the beginning of second grade. He also confirmed that the child received a free meal through a program funded by the Ministry of Education, though he could not recall exactly when the provision had begun.
Referring to the information included in his testimony that there was no food at Stylianos’s home, the witness clarified that he had no personal knowledge of this, as he had not visited the family. As he explained, the information came from what the child had told his caregiver, who then relayed it to him. When asked whether Defendant 3 had observed during her visits that there was food in the house, she replied: “That impression was not reflected in the student I had at school.”
The witness was also asked about the mention in his testimony that teachers had discussed the possibility of removing Stylianos from the home. He explained that the issue had been discussed among colleagues, who wondered why the Child Protection Services had not intervened, even though, as he said, there were suspicions of abuse and the situation was continuing.
Regarding the child’s appearance at school, the witness said that his clothes were dirty and had a strong odor, which he associated with farm animals. He ruled out the possibility that the odor was due to mold, as Mr. Akamas had suggested.
He also rejected the notion that the child’s clothes might have absorbed the odor from his father’s clothes, as his father worked on a farm. “I don’t believe that clean clothes can take on such a foul odor simply by being next to dirty clothes,” he noted.
When asked about the clothes that, as he had mentioned, he or his wife had bought for Stylianos as a way to support the family, the witness said they were clothes appropriate for his age and size, though he could not recall specific items. He rejected the suggestion that they had never bought him clothes or shoes, adding, “Unfortunately, I didn’t keep the receipts.”
Finally, regarding reports that Stylianos’s father allegedly obstructed or threatened Defendant 3 when she, in the course of her work, attempted to enter their home, the witness clarified that what he knew about those specific incidents came from the school escort.
