The assessment that Stylianos’s situation would not take a turn for the better—though without expecting that he would take his own life— was expressed on Thursday before the Nicosia District Court by special education teacher A.S., who provided special support to the child during the 2012-2013.
“Based on my experience, based on the impression he gave, it was clear that he would not make positive progress, but I did not expect him to take this action. I thought that one day he would open the door and walk out of the house,” the witness stated.
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The teacher, reading with a trembling voice the statement he gave to the criminal investigator in 2020, described a child who, according to him, was neglected, tired, and isolated from his classmates, while his daily life revolved around working on his family’s farm.
He was Stylianos’s special education teacher during the 2012–2013 school year, when the child was in the third grade at Agia Varvara Elementary School. As he testified, he provided him with special support to address learning gaps during three 40-minute sessions per week.
According to the witness, the child’s academic level corresponded to first grade, even though he was in third grade, as he did not know how to read, adding that “he was trying his very best to learn.”
Referring to the child’s situation at school, the witness said that he often found Stylianos asleep at 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 said.
He added that Stylianos would talk to him about the work he did on the farm, telling him that he took the animals out to graze with a stick. “One morning he was late for school, and he told me the reason he was late was because the animals were giving birth,” he noted.
When asked by the representative of the Prosecution, Elena Konstantinou, whether Stylianos had ever told him that he enjoyed the work he did on the farm, the witness stated that he had never told him he liked them; on the contrary, he said he was forced to work. He added that the boy told him he wanted to learn to read so he could become “something” in the future. “But he never specified what that ‘something’ was,” he added.
Referring to Stylianos’s homework, the witness said that the boy never did it, while telling him that he didn’t have time because he worked on the farm until late at night.
When asked why, as he stated in his preliminary testimony, he considered Stylianos to be distressed, pensive, and sullen, the witness replied that this was due to the family circumstances he was experiencing. “He wasn’t living his childhood,” he said.
Regarding Stylianos’s relationship with the other children, the witness stated that his classmates isolated him because of his appearance and his odor. As he explained, when he was on recess duty, the boy would approach him and talk to him about the farm and the animals. “He didn’t engage in typical childhood conversation,” he noted.
Responding to a question about how the child coped with being isolated from his classmates, the witness said that, in his opinion, the child had no other choice, as he was neglected by his family. “If he had been cared for by his family, perhaps he could have made friends and joined groups,” he noted.
Describing the child’s appearance, the witness said he had blackened fingernails, dirt on his skin, and dirty hair, while he emitted an unpleasant and strong odor. As he testified, he did not recall ever seeing him clean or without the strong smell of animals.
“His fingernails were pitch black, his skin was covered in dark spots, his hair was matted, and the smell—you just couldn’t stand it,” she said, adding that the child was wearing torn shoes that were too big for him and dirty clothes. “I remember him wearing a wool sweater that was white but had turned black from the grime,” he said. “When we went to wash him, we used soap and water, but there was so much grime on him that it wouldn’t come off. He smelled everywhere. The stench was unbearable,” he added.
The witness also mentioned the child’s anxiety about his younger siblings. As he testified, Stylianos often told him that he wanted them to have food and not be forced to work on the farm, so they wouldn’t have to go through what he was going through. “He almost always mentioned these things to me. It was his concern,” he added.
Regarding the family situation, the witness testified that Stylianos’s mother had told him about instances of intense arguments with his father, as well as that the latter drank alcohol, had extramarital affairs, and did not provide financial support to the family.
The witness said that he had never met Stylianos’s father, who, according to his testimony, never took an interest in contacting him to inquire about the child’s academic performance or progress.
He made special mention of an incident in which Stylianos left home after a family argument and spent the entire night in the fields. When asked by the representative of the Prosecution when the incident occurred, the witness said that, as far as he could recall, it was in May 2013. As he stated, the next day the mother informed the school principal, who notified the police and the Child Protection Services. He also noted that “the mother had taken her out in the car that day, and I remember her coming out of my classroom and asking me for a cigarette, but I told her I don’t smoke.”
He added that arguments in the family were frequent and that, when he asked Stylianos what was going on, the boy avoided answering. As he explained, following several instances of arguments between the father and mother, the mother would leave the house with the children and go to her parents’ home in Kokkinotrimithia, with the result that Stylianos would miss school for a few days because his mother was unable to drive him from Kokkinotrimithia to Agia Varvara.
The witness further testified that during a multidisciplinary meeting regarding Stylianos, he had mentioned that the child was a “passive bystander” to incidents of violence at home. He also said that the child did not participate in school field trips because, to the best of his knowledge, his parents did not provide money for his meals and transportation.
The proceedings will continue on Friday with the cross-examination of the witness. It should be noted that the case concerns the tragic death of 14-year-old Stylianos Konstantinou in September 2019 and examines whether there was negligence both within the family as well as on the part of government agencies.
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