Nicosia, Cyprus. A former liaison officer told the Nicosia district court on Friday that, based on her professional experience, there were sufficient indications for the Social Welfare Services to seek a court order removing 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou from his family environment before his death. She was testifying in the ongoing trial into the circumstances surrounding the teenager’s death after he took his own life in September 2019.
Witness testimony
The witness, identified as S.K., made the statement during cross-examination by defence lawyer Victor Akamas, who represents the third defendant in the case. She said she had revisited the case files following her previous testimony to ensure she would not “do an injustice to anyone” through her evidence.
Professional assessment
S.K. said she did not know exactly what actions were or were not taken by the specific social welfare officer facing charges, adding that this was for the court to determine after considering all the evidence.
She nevertheless maintained that, based on her experience in particularly difficult family cases, the welfare services routinely sought removal orders even where there were only indications of abuse or neglect.
“In my personal opinion, there were enough elements that the services ought to have examined and which should have led to an application before the court for a removal order,” she said.
She added that she had worked with welfare offices in other districts where similar procedures had been followed in comparable cases.
Response to defence questions
When the defence suggested her opinion reflected her views as a mother, teacher and citizen rather than as a professional, S.K. rejected the claim. She said her position was based solely on her professional experience and the practices followed by the Social Welfare Services at the time.
She reiterated that she could not say whether the officials involved in this particular case had fulfilled all of their obligations, stressing that her testimony was limited to her own professional experience rather than the specific handling of the case.
Multidisciplinary meetings
Asked about multidisciplinary team meetings, S.K. said the objectives set during those meetings were collective decisions rather than the personal views of individual participants.