A police sergeant is facing a charge over the death of 15-year-old Stylianos in Kotsiatis in 2019.
This is the second case filed over the teenager’s suicide. The 58-year-old officer, who was serving at Pera Chorio police station at the time, is charged with neglect of duty.
According to details in the charge sheet, despite being informed at an earlier stage of the teenager’s suicide that Stylianos had attempted to take his own life, the 58-year-old failed to investigate the matter and gave wrong instructions to his subordinates.
The police sergeant has already pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the case was scheduled for a hearing yesterday.
However, proceedings did not go ahead for reasons relating to the other case filed over Stylianos’s suicide, in which 11 people are charged — the boy’s parents and nine officials from the Social Welfare Services.
Both cases have consecutive filing numbers (1089/21 and 1090/21) and have been brought before Nicosia district judge Pavlos Agapitou.
One particular feature stands out: one of the accused in one case is a prosecution witness in the other — namely, the case against the 58-year-old sergeant.
This was precisely the focus of submissions made yesterday before the court by Stavros Dimitriou, defence counsel for the police officer.
Based on his submissions, an issue arises from the fact that two cases concerning Stylianos are before the same court, pointing to potential legal complications.
One example is the issue of a person who will be called before the same judge to testify under oath in one case as a prosecution witness and in the other as an accused.
The court was asked to examine the issue. District Judge Pavlos Agapitou scheduled the case for 18 December to hear the views of all parties involved and decide accordingly.
The case against the 58-year-old sergeant is being handled on behalf of the republic by Nafsika Gregoriou.
Case background
The office of the commissioner for administration and human rights protection, Maria Stylianou Lottides, conducted an investigation into Stylianos’s death following a cabinet decision dated 11 September 2019.
The commissioner, according to the terms of reference, was called upon to identify responsibilities “of all those responsible in all the services involved”.
The findings of that investigation, dated 14 November 2019, were published and forwarded to the then attorney-general Costas Clerides.
Two independent criminal investigators were subsequently appointed — lawyers Modestos Pogiatzis and Andreas E. Andreou — with instructions to complete their criminal investigation within two months. After the criminal investigators completed their work, the two cases were filed in 2021.
The commissioner’s findings, published six years ago, included clear references to police. Among other things, it stated: “The relevant reports (on domestic violence) exceeded 20, and there was also a conviction of the father for violence against the minor Stylianos. They should have taken into account the existence of minor children and the possibility of psychological violence, which both front-line police officers and the police violence prevention office failed to detect despite having access to electronic records that would bring up ALL entries with a single identity search”.
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