Teacher recounts Stylianos Constantinou’s statements in Nicosia court

Nicosia, Cyprus. A special education teacher told Nicosia district court on Tuesday that Stylianos Constantinou, who died by suicide in September 2019 aged 14, had made statements as a young child about intending to kill his father.

The witness testified for the prosecution in an ongoing case examining possible responsibility for the boy’s death within his family and state services.

Witness testimony

Reading from testimony she gave to criminal investigators in 2020, the teacher said Stylianos had stated: “I will slaughter my father like he slaughters goats,” while making a cutting motion across his throat.

She said he had also told her: “I’ll kill him when I grow up, if he makes my mum cry again.”

School assessment and behaviour

The witness said she had participated in assessing Stylianos’ special education needs when he was five, together with his class teacher and a speech therapist.

Following the assessment, the special education district committee allocated him several hours of special education each week.

She described him as frequently “sullen” and said he often arrived at school particularly distressed on Mondays. Staff would wash and groom him before lessons began, she said, adding that this occurred regularly.

The teacher said Stylianos was “almost always unkempt, dirty” and that other children did not want to sit near him because “he smelled strongly.” Staff had difficulty including him in group activities despite intervention efforts, she said.

She also described an incident in which he overturned desks, chairs and belongings in the classroom, requiring several teachers to calm him.

Family concerns

The witness described Stylianos’ mother as “tired” and “sad.” She recalled the mother explaining that she kept her younger child in the car during winter months to stay warm while she worked on the family farm.

She further testified that meetings with the boy’s father had left her fearful and that school staff had raised concerns about Stylianos’ exposure to animal slaughter on the farm.