The cross-examination of special education teacher A.S. before the District Court of Lefkada on Friday focused on the statements made by 14-year-old Stylianos Konstantinos regarding his work on his father’s farm, as well as the conditions under which, as he testified, the child attended school, the cross-examination of special education teacher A.S. before the Nicosia District Court focused on Friday, as part of the case concerning the minor’s death in September 2019.
The proceedings were marked by a heated confrontation between the witness and the attorney defending the father, while the judge had to intervene both to restore order during cross-examination and to instruct Stylianos’s father to control his reactions in the courtroom.
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The special education teacher, who provided support to Stylianos during the 2012–2013 school year, reported that the child repeatedly told him that his father forced him to work on the farm.
READ ALSO: “A neglected, exhausted, and isolated child”: Special education teacher’s sobbing testimony about the unfortunate Stylianos
When asked by the lawyer for the first defendant, Konstantinos Kazantzis, why he hadn’t filed a complaint himself, he replied that he had informed the school principal, who, as he said, had filed reports with the relevant authorities.
“So you didn’t do anything for a whole year,” the lawyer pointed out, to which the witness replied that “there is a hierarchy at the school.”
When the lawyer argued that the absence of a personal complaint demonstrated that the witness did not believe the child’s reports, he replied: “Should I not believe the baby who told me the same story for nine months? A baby who smelled like a garbage dump, who had bruises on his face and skin every day, whose hair was matted?”
Controversy Over Reports of Farm Work
During the previous proceedings, the witness had stated that he often found Stylianos asleep on his desk when he went to pick him up for his special education class.
“When we tried to wake him up, he wouldn’t wake up, and the excuse he gave us was that he was tired because he had been at the farm until 11 p.m.,” he had testified.
During today’s cross-examination, the attorney argued that the mother had denied to the school that Stylianos had been working at the scrapyard until 11 p.m., adding that, in his view, this is also confirmed by his third-grade elementary school teacher.
SEE ALSO: Stylianos Case: “He told me that when he grew up, he would kill his father,” said a special education teacher
“Those were the reports the school administration submitted to the authorities,” the witness replied.
The lawyer argued that the child’s statements did not correspond to reality, contending that it was impossible for him to be herding sheep in the dark at 11 p.m.
“Instead of playing with his toys, he was in the pen, sir,” said the witness, to which the lawyer replied that Stylianos had his ball with him and was playing in the pen.
Regarding the witness’s statement that Stylianos was helping with the lambing of sheep, the defense attorney argued that the child, at the age of seven, was not capable of performing such tasks.
The defense attorney also noted that even if the parents took the child with them to the farm because they could not leave him alone at home when they had to assist with the birth of a lamb, that did not mean that Stylianos participated in the work.
“It’s one thing for it to happen once, and another for it to happen all year round,” the witness replied.
“I never saw him clean at school.”
The cross-examination also addressed the special education teacher’s remarks regarding the child’s appearance and personal hygiene.
During the previous proceedings, the witness had stated that Stylianos had blackened fingernails, dirt on his skin, and dirty hair, while he emitted a strong and unpleasant odor. As she had testified, she did not recall ever seeing him clean or without the strong odor of animals.
His attorney argued that, according to the school attendant’s account, she would take Stylianos to the water fountain every morning and wash him. He also argued that the child might have gotten dirty while playing at school before his special education class.
“Can’t you rule out the possibility that Stylianos might have gotten dirty from playing by the time your class starts—during the fourth or fifth period? Doesn’t the school have a playground?” she asked.
READ ALSO: New shocking testimony: The father of 14-year-old Stylianos “had slaughtered his beloved little goats as punishment”
“Elementary school children don’t play in the dirt. They’re not in kindergarten. That’s not allowed in elementary school. Those are regulations from the Ministry of Education,” the witness replied.
The lawyer argued that Stylianos washed himself and took care of his personal hygiene on his own, while the special education teacher insisted that he had never seen him clean at school.
“It is, at the very least, paradoxical to claim in court that Stylianos herded sheep, sheared them, milked them, and did not know how to wash and clean himself,” the lawyer stated.
Tension with the lawyer and the judge’s intervention
A heated exchange ensued when the lawyer asked the witness why he had not raised with the mother, during a multi-topic meeting, the child’s claims that he was taken to the scrapyard every day until 11 p.m.
The witness replied that the mother had been telling people this in both villages, Agia Varvara and Kotsiati, prompting the lawyer to retort: “So now you’re going to tell me it’s just village gossip, sir?”
“First of all, watch your tone—I won’t allow you to speak to me that way. Do you realize what kind of case we’re dealing with here? A baby committed suicide. This isn’t a show,” replied the witness.
“Are you implying that I’m putting on a show, sir?” asked the lawyer.
The judge intervened, urging the two to limit themselves to questions and answers regarding the facts. He warned that, if such a level of confrontation were to continue or recur, he would have to suspend the proceedings to ensure compliance with his instructions, and, as he noted, in the worst-case scenario, he would have to take other measures.
The attorney noted that this was the second time the witness had insulted him and requested protection, to which the witness replied, “And you’re insulting me, too.”
“I lost my baby,” said the father
During the testimony, Stylianos’s father appeared to react to what the witness was saying, prompting the judge to instruct him to control his reactions in the courtroom.
“You must control your reactions in court,” the judge said.
The father spoke up, saying, “I don’t believe what’s being said either. I’m sorry, I didn’t say anything, but ever since the trial began, they’ve been attacking me. I lost my baby.”
The judge replied that he was digressing, clarifying that his remark concerned a noise he had made during the proceedings.
“It was the third time I noticed it, and I’m going to say so. You have no right to raise issues in court,” he said.
“He was bullied because he was poor”
Regarding Stylianos’s relationship with his classmates, the attorney argued that the child was bullied because he was poor and because his father was a shepherd. The witness had stated that other children isolated him because of his appearance and his smell.
“What do you mean by ‘poor’? Poor in the sense that we collected money and coupons and gave them to his mother so she could shop at the supermarkets? That we collected clothes, food, and shoes in bags and gave them to her?” the witness replied.
As he explained, at school they collected clothes, food, and shoes for the family, and he wondered why Stylianos came to school every day wearing the same sweater.
The cross-examination continued with the attorney for the second defendant, Angelos Ioannou, who followed a similar line of questioning as attorney Konstantinos Kazantzis, challenging the special education teacher’s statements regarding Stylianos’s work on the farm, his living conditions, and the notification of the relevant authorities.
The focus was also on the credibility of his testimony and whether his statements were corroborated by the minutes of the multidisciplinary meetings.
Questions Regarding the Testimony and the Multithematic Meeting
During cross-examination by the attorney for the third defendant, Victoria Akama, the credibility of the special education teacher’s testimony was challenged, with the defense attorney raising the issue of possible coaching by the prosecution, which, he claimed, had provided him with his written testimony and given him clarifications.
The witness rejected this allegation.
Mr. Akamas also challenged the witness’s statements that the school principal had informed the relevant authorities about Stylianos’s situation, pointing out that no such information was included in his 2020 testimony.
Citing the minutes of a multidisciplinary meeting held on December 5, 2012, the attorney argued that the reports regarding the child’s progress and willingness to complete his schoolwork contradicted the teacher’s testimony.
The teacher replied that willingness did not necessarily mean that Stylianos was actually doing his assignments, and added that he did not recall what each participant had said at the meeting.
Finally, the defense attorney argued that the witness’s statements regarding Stylianos talking to him about work at the scrapyard were not recorded in the relevant multidisciplinary meetings, a point with which the teacher disagreed.
The trial will resume on Monday, October 26, at 11:00 a.m.
It should be noted that the case concerns the death of 14-year-old Stylianos Konstantinou in September 2019 and examines whether there was any liability both within the family and on thestate agencies.
Source: KYPE
