Mental health services head nurse Kyriaki Ioannou told the court on Friday that everyone was aware of the conditions in which 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou – who took his own life – was living but “the child was not moved.”
The case concerns the investigation into the death of Stylianos, with the court examining allegations of neglect involving both his family and state services.
Ioannou, who supported Stylianos’ mother between 2010 and 2012 in her capacity as mental head nursing officer, appeared in court again on Friday, where her cross examination continued.
Angelos Ioannou, representing Stylianos’ mother, asked Ioannou about the mother’s psychological state. He particularly wanted to know what Ioannou’s remark that the mother was “depressed but functional” meant and just how “functional” she was during her depression.
Ioannou said the mother was functional in that she drove, took the children to school, looked after the house, called the social worker, went to the police and requested help.
Asked if there were stages between depression and delusional psychotic depression, Ioannou said there were but she was not qualified to diagnose the mother.
Ioannou said that in March 2011 she had been informed by Stylianos’ mother that the boy’s school problems persisted, he would not enter the classroom and at other times would bang his head on the desk. She also mentioned he was being bullied.
These incidents, Ioannou said, were the responsibility of the school.
Ioannou added that the mother described arguments with the father, said he beat her, that they had financial problems and that the household was dysfunctional due to the long hours spent at the farm. She added that the welfare services had been notified.
The mother, she said, sought help from the police, the school, the authorities and the village priest.
Ioannou had later been promoted and her communication with the mother had stopped, however she pointed out that there would be records of any subsequent communication with the services.
Victor Akamas, representing the social worker accused of negligence, also cross examined the witness, who said the social worker was concerned over the problems faced by the family and that moving the children had been raised.
Akamas wondered why a lot of things had been left out of her written statement. Ioannou said that if she had known that Stylianos was going to die, she would have written down every detail, but in practice everyone wrote down a summary of the situations they encounter.
She also pointed out that much of what was being said in court happened over a decade ago, adding that Stylianos was living in an abusive environment and had reached the end of his tether.
“Everyone knew it and this child was not moved,” she said and agreed when the lawyer said “including you”.
During the cross examination, Ioannou said the boy was not working at the farm as an adult, but was helping out, sweeping, while he should have been doing his homework. She clarified that she had not seen him herself, but had heard from other services what was going on.
The next hearing will be on Monday. Witnesses to be called to the stand are the officer who took Stylianos’ mobile phone and the boy’s schoolteacher in the second grade of primary school.