‘I wish you were my mum’ Stylianos wrote to teacher

Witness testimony on Friday confirmed previous statements that Stylianos Constantinou, who took his own life in 2019 at the age of 14, had been beaten with a belt by his father. Speech therapist Niki Prodromou told the court that Stylianos felt safe and loved at school, and would write notes to her saying “I wish you were my mum.” Prodromou said Stylianos had confided in her and that both the boy’s mother and the authorities were aware of the abuse against him. “My father beat me with a belt,” was one of the things Prodromou remembers Stylianos telling her. The Nicosia district court is examining whether responsibility lies with members of Stylianos’ family and state services regarding his death. Prodromou said she had worked with Stylianos in the third grade of primary school, in Ayia Varvara, Nicosia, when the boy was eight years old. Referring to an evaluation she conducted at the beginning of the school year, Prodromou said she found “he had low self-esteem and self-confidence.” Prodromou said Stylianos came to school unclean, unkempt, with dirty teeth. He emitted a strong bad odour and was often hungry and tired. “He told me that he didn’t take a bath because they didn’t have hot water at home,” she said, and that Stylianos had mentioned that there were mice in the house. Reading out her written testimony, Prodromou said that around the end of the school year, Stylianos’ mother arrived in a state of panic because the boy had left home the previous night and not returned. Stylianos did not attend school for a week after the incident. Prodromou said she realised the mother was withholding significant information and was aware of the abuse by the father, because she only asked about Stylianos’ school performance and denied the beatings, hunger and working on the farm. The witness recalled the mother bringing two younger children with her, who were “sloppy”, while the mother was clean. “Stylianos had goals and dreams for his life. School was his harbour,” Prodromou said, adding that the boy said he wanted to learn but was too exhausted. On another occasion, Stylianos had told her his father beat him with a belt and that she had seen the welts on his back. Summing up her observations, the witness said Stylianos feared his father, who beat him and made him work on the farm, and that the boy received no support from his mother. “The authorities,” she added, “were aware of the abuse Stylianos suffered.” Questioned by prosecution lawyer Elena Constantinou, the witness said Stylianos had difficulty expressing himself verbally and had a very poor vocabulary. Stylianos had also told the witness he was “no good” and would “not make it”. The boy was also “always hunched over and kept his gaze down”. According to the witness, Stylianos came to school once and proudly told her, “I took a bath.” Referring to the boy’s rashes on his hands, Prodromou recalled Stylianos saying he had asked his mother to take him to a doctor but “she didn’t take me”. One of the teachers, Prodromou said, contracted the skin irritation from Stylianos. Stylianos would ask Prodromou to help him learn to read and write because he “wanted to be something”. “In the 25 years I have worked in primary schools, I have never seen a more neglected child,” she said. According to Stylianos, she added, the father called him “worthless” and a “bastard”. Prodromou also told the court that the family received help from the community, in the form of clothes, shoes, food and milk. Stylianos, she said, would arrive at school smiling because “he felt loved and safe there.” “He would take a piece of paper and write to me: I wish you were my mum,” she said. The next hearing has been set for Monday at 11.30am with the cross examination of the witness.