Nicosia, Cyprus. The defence in the trial over the 2019 suicide of teenager Stylianos Constantinou sought to reduce the responsibility of social welfare services, while a prosecution witness said more could have been done to prevent his death.
Cross-examination of prosecution witness
Andreas Andreou, a criminal investigator, was cross-examined on Thursday by Andreas Christou, lawyer for two of the defendants.
The case concerns Stylianos Constantinou, who died by suicide in September 2019. He had been living in a household where multiple incidents of domestic violence had been recorded.
During a previous hearing this week, Andreou referred to statements by the teenager, who said he had been beaten with a belt and that his father would “beat him like a dog” at the family-owned farm.
Previous suicide attempt
The court heard that the boy had previously attempted to take his own life in May 2019.
Defence argument on workload
During cross-examination, Christou presented logs by social welfare officers describing excessive workloads caused by understaffing.
The court heard that in 2019, when one of the defendants served as supervisor at the local Latsia office, the office was handling about 980 preventive child protection cases.
“I can’t deny that,” Andreou said in response.
Dispute over legal authority
The defence also argued that social welfare services had the right, but not the obligation, to remove parental custody.
The point related to an earlier statement by Andreou that, had the services taken custody of Stylianos, even temporarily, he might still be alive.
Andreou replied that the law gives social workers the “authority” to remove parental custody.