Court hears testimony in trial over death of 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou

The Nicosia district court continued the trial regarding the 2019 suicide of 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou, focusing on the testimony of his former kindergarten teacher, Konstantina Papachristodoulou. During cross-examination, defense lawyers challenged the witness's credibility regarding her claims that the child had been neglected and subjected to domestic violence during the 2008-2009 school year. The witness alleged that the child frequently arrived at school in dirty clothes and spoke of being beaten by his father. Defense counsel Constantinos Kazantzis presented classroom photographs to contradict these accounts, arguing that the child appeared well-cared for. When questioned why she failed to report the alleged abuse to authorities at the time, the witness explained that she was a first-year teacher lacking the necessary experience. She testified that the boy had also described his father hitting his mother and threatening the children. The defense maintained that the teacher had a professional duty to report suspected abuse, which she acknowledged she would do if faced with the same situation today.