In Cyprus, teacher says she reported suspected violence at home
At the Nicosia District Court in Cyprus, the former teacher of Stylianos Constantinou said that she had informed the school principal about everything the student told her regarding suspected violence at home. According to her, the principal passed the information on to child protection services. Stylianos Constantinou died by suicide in 2019 at the age of 14, Cyprus Mail reports.
Testimony on behaviour and injuries
During cross-examination, Constantinos Kazantsis, the lawyer for the boy's father, suggested that the teacher's conclusions about the student's aggressive behaviour at school were her own and that she could not have known about events at home. The witness replied that she had noticed changes in the child's behaviour and difficulties concentrating. In her assessment, the family situation prevented the boy from studying normally.
The court referred to abrasions, a head injury and a burn on the boy's body, which the teacher had discussed during previous hearings. According to her, Stylianos said that the burn had allegedly occurred after his father stubbed out a cigarette on his body. The father's lawyer also asked whether she knew that the child's parents did not smoke; the witness replied that she could not have known this. The teacher stressed that she had not witnessed events at the home and testified about the student's accounts and her own observations.
Jonathan Betito, the mother's lawyer, asked whether the witness could assess the severity of the head injury and whether the parents might have treated the wound before the boy arrived at school. The teacher said the injury did not appear to have been treated. She also said that the boy's mother had told her about filing a complaint with the police.
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Questions over previous statements
Lawyer Victoras Akamas, representing the senior social services officer responsible for Stylianos's case, drew attention to details that, he said, were absent from the teacher's initial 2020 testimony. The witness explained that when reviewing her statement before the court hearing, she recalled additional circumstances.
Akamas suggested that during a meeting with a representative of the prosecution before her court appearance, new details had been discussed and clarified with her, which could have amounted to improper coaching of a witness. The teacher denied this, stating that she answered questions so that the representative could understand the circumstances of the case.
The witness also said that she immediately reported serious incidents to the principal. According to her, a letter from the principal to child protection services in March 2011 referred to an escalation in Stylianos's problematic behaviour and an incident in which he left the school. Akamas noted that the letter contained no direct reference to violence or injuries, but the teacher insisted that she had reported these incidents to the principal. Cross-examination is due to continue on September 15 at 8:30.
