A teacher told Nicosia District Court on Wednesday that the welfare officer responsible came to see Stylianos at school days after marks were found on the boy’s body, by which time they had disappeared, the court heard during his cross-examination.
The teacher, a prosecution witness who taught Stylianos in the second and third years of primary school, was being questioned by Victor Akamas, who represents the third defendant, a Social Welfare Services officer.
He told the court that the boy’s carer called him while Stylianos was in a speech therapy session and told him the boy had marks which, she said, came from his father. He said they discreetly lifted the boy’s top and found that he did have marks.
He informed the head teacher, he said, and was told that either the speech therapist or the carer had contacted the welfare officer responsible. According to his testimony, the officer visited the school days later, when Stylianos no longer had any marks. He said he went home angry that day because they had found nothing, “because it took them ten days to come”.
Citing an Education Ministry manual on handling violent incidents, Akamas put it to the teacher that he should have kept notes.
The teacher replied that his duty was to inform a member of the school’s prevention team, in this case the head teacher, as there were signs of blows and the child’s claim that they came from his father. After that, someone had to come and examine it, he said. He denied the suggestion that he never informed the head teacher.
The teacher maintained that the boy’s clothes smelled strongly of animals, disputing the lawyer’s suggestion that the smell was of mould.
He agreed that he had never seen Stylianos at the farm himself, saying his view that the boy was there every day was based on the smell and on what Stylianos told him: that he went there after school, cleaned, looked after the animals and knew how to milk them.
When it was put to him that the welfare officer had found food in the home during her visits, the witness said this was not reflected in the breakfast the boy had when he came to school. He said his information about a lack of food at home came from the carer.
The teacher also insisted that Stylianos himself had told him about lambs being killed in front of him, dismissing the defence’s suggestion to the contrary. He said teachers had discussed among themselves why the Social Welfare Services were not stepping in to remove the child from his family home.
The defence also challenged details that were missing from the teacher’s 2020 police statement. He rejected the suggestion, saying he had given that statement unprepared and in an emotional state, and had remembered further incidents before appearing in court.
Background
The case concerns the death of 14-year-old Stylianos in September 2019. The original indictment contained 218 charges against 11 people: his parents and nine Social Welfare Services officers. The father is charged with offences including common assault and subjecting a person to cruel and inhuman treatment, the mother with failing to report violence and the officers with neglect of duty.
The fifth and seventh defendants, both welfare officers, admitted three charges and one charge respectively. On May 15, 2026, they were sentenced to ten and eight months in prison, suspended for three years.
In separate proceedings, a police sergeant admitted on October 15 to neglect of duty over the handling of a previous suicide attempt by Stylianos in May 2019. His case was set for facts and sentencing on November 4.
