“This child, in my opinion, harbored anger and bitterness. His anger turned into rage and indignation, and he took it out on innocent children,” said the former assistant principal of Agia Varvara Elementary School on Thursday, during her cross-examination at the trial regarding the death of 14-year-old Stylianos Konstantinou, describing how she perceived the child’s outbursts of anger.
The witness E.N., who had served as the school’s principal from December 2010 through March 2011, stated that Stylianos did not face any problems in the school environment, as he had the support and affection of both his classroom teacher and the special education teacher, as well as the school aide. She described him, however, as a quiet and thoughtful child who did not smile, and during the time she served as principal, there were three serious incidents involving his outbursts of anger.
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Responding to questions from the defense attorney for the first defendant, Stylianos’s father, Konstantinos Kazantzis, the witness rejected the suggestion that the child’s behavior was due to misbehavior, hyperactivity, or learning difficulties. She stated that, in her assessment, the anger and bitterness that had built up inside the child manifested themselves in outbursts directed at other children.
“This child, in my opinion, had built up anger and bitterness. His anger turned into rage and indignation and he lashed out at innocent children,” said the witness, noting that the child may not have been able to express his bitterness toward those who caused it. “He chose to take it out on easy targets—the other children,” she added.
Regarding an incident she had described during her initial testimony—in which Stylianos pulled his mother’s hair when she went to pick him up from school— the witness clarified that she did not hear the child say, “I don’t want to go home.” She explained that she heard screams and arrived at the scene after the child had already calmed down. That specific phrase, she said, had been heard by the child’s teacher, who informed her of it afterward.
During cross-examination, the issue of the child’s statement that “he works on the farm” was also raised. The witness explained that she was concerned because the classroom teacher and the special education teacher had told her that Stylianos was arriving at school tired. When they asked him why he was tired, he replied that he was working on the farm.
As she explained, her concern was that the child might be spending a large part of his time on the farm, at the expense of his rest, study, and play. She said she had raised the issue with the third defendant, a Social Welfare Services (SWS), who was monitoring the family, but, as he noted, he had not been informed as to whether an investigation had been conducted to determine if the child was in fact working on the farm.
Special mention was also made of the marks found on Stylianos’s body, which, according to the witness, the child had attributed to his father stubbing out a cigarette on him. In response to a question from Mr. Kazantzis about whether she herself had seen the marks, she explained that the school aide had initially noticed them when she accompanied the child to the restroom and helped him wash up. As she said, Stylianos took off his shirt so it wouldn’t get wet, and that’s when the aide noticed the marks, which his teacher and she herself then saw.
The witness described them as small, round, dark red to black marks that resembled cigarette burns. She clarified, however, that she had not seen the father cause those specific marks and could not know for certain what caused them. “I didn’t go home to see my father do that. I wasn’t in a position to verify it. I wanted these matters to be investigated,” he noted.
Next, the defense attorney for the second defendant, Stylianos’s mother, Angelos Ioannou, suggested to the witness that Stylianos’s outbursts were isolated incidents and that the child did not show any signs of not wanting to go home. Rejecting this argument, the witness stated that the incidents were intense and that Stylianos had never expressed that he did not want to be at school. As she explained, the outbursts began suddenly, and the teachers had not told her that other children were provoking his behavior.
When asked what Stylianos might have been trying to avoid when, during one of the incidents, he left school, the witness replied that he wanted to escape, as he realized his parents would be notified and that something would follow.
She insisted that the child was doing well in school and had the love and attention of his teachers and his support staff member. Responding to the suggestion that his learning difficulties and the presence of a support teacher might have made him feel different from the other children, he noted that other children also had a support staff member and a special education teacher, and that the students had become accustomed to the presence of Stylianos’s support staff member without making fun of him.
During cross-examination, the attorney for the third defendant, a YKE official, Viktoras Akamas, suggested to the witness that if she had contacted the officer again to inquire about the matter, she would have told her that she had made dozens of visits to both the family’s home and farm, without finding that Stylianos was working there. The witness replied that the social worker had not told her anything of the sort.
When asked by Mr. Akamas why she had contacted the Child Protection Services rather than the school doctor regarding the marks found on Stylianos’s body, she replied that her goal was to have the incident investigated, and she did not inform a doctor because the marks were already in the process of healing. When asked whether they could have been caused by a skin condition, she said they were small, perfectly round marks that appeared to have been caused by a cigarette, and she also took into account what the child himself had reported.
The witness explained that she did not notify the police, as she was not certain of the marks’ origin and could not accuse the father without a prior investigation. She stated that she was waiting for the responsible Child Protection Services (YKE) worker to determine whether there was domestic violence. She added that the worker had told her that the marks would have to be fresh in order for a complaint to be filed.
When asked why she did not mention the incident during the subsequent multidisciplinary meeting, the witness replied that she was not certain about what Stylianos had said regarding his father and expected that further investigation would be conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division. “The incident wasn’t verified, but I had my suspicions. I had doubts, and that’s why I said I wouldn’t mention anything at the multidisciplinary meeting,” she said. When Mr. Akamas pointed out to her that she had not informed the third defendant about the marks, she insisted that she had informed her.
At the same time, Mr. Akamas pointed out to the witness an entry regarding the third defendant in the YKE system, dated March 18, 2011, which documented two unannounced visits she had made to the family’s home. The witness had stated during her direct examination that she had asked the social worker to conduct an unannounced visit, in order to verify whether Stylianos was working on the farm, and that the officer had told her that such practices were not customary. The witness noted that she had not been informed of these specific visits.
When asked by Mr. Akamas whether there was a violence prevention and response team at the school during the period she served as principal, the witness replied in the negative, adding that such a team should have been established at the beginning of the school year.
Referring to the events that followed the second multidisciplinary meeting during her tenure as principal, the witness said that the community priest, who participated as an advisor to the family in the multidisciplinary meeting, came to her office and spoke to her about the difficulties of the shepherd’s profession and informed her that the family needed financial support. According to her, the priest also told her: “Tell Stylianos’s teacher to be careful,” since, as he told her, the child’s father was waiting for her outside the school with a gun.
The witness clarified that she had not witnessed the incident herself and that the priest has since passed away. When the defense challenged her account, she replied: “I didn’t make this up; I lived through it, and it’s a shame for the child who was taken from us so unjustly. I consider it my duty to speak out.”
The trial continues on Friday at 11:00 a.m., with a new prosecution witness.
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Source: KYPE
