The ongoing case concerning the suicide of a 15-year-old abused boy in September 2019 makes for harrowing reading, not only for the misery he endured his entire life but for the fact he was let down by a group of people whose job it was to protect him from harm.

Only days ago President Nikos Christodoulides could not have been more concerned about children when he announced the upcoming social media ban for youngsters.

He was not president during the tragic event but his predecessor, Nicos Anastasiades, under whose watch Stylianos died, would likely have mouthed the same platitudes if the social media ban was happening in 2019.

Yet, when Commissioner for Human Rights Maria Stylianou-Lottides handed over her damning report on the boy’s death to Anastasiades at the time, he didn’t utter a word in front of the cameras – not even a tiny public regret that his government had let that boy down in the worst possible way or a promise to do better.

According to the latest hearing, the court heard that no protective measures whatsoever were taken for Stylianos despite years of warning signs.

In total, 218 charges have been brought against 11 people – the parents and nine employees from social welfare.

Documents presented at court showed that welfare services had been aware of multiple incidents including the very worst ones.

“The response that followed did not meet the level expected in such circumstances,” the court heard from the prosecuting investigator. “It was an emergency case involving a minor.”

Lottides had said that the social workers assigned to the case had shown “utter criminal negligence”, but their union rejected this and blamed understaffing because of course. That’s always the excuse when there’s a human tragedy due to negligence on the part of the authorities.

Yes, welfare employees can undoubtedly make a case for understaffing if this had been an issue of minimal neglect requiring constant vigilance or if it merely concerned psychological issues that required regular visits and follow-ups.

However, it should have been obvious to anyone with half a brain that this was an emergency situation that could have been easily resolved by removing the boy from the home. They had recorded two major red flags giving them the opportunity to act but they didn’t.

The first time was in 2014 when the boy’s father was convicted of violence against him and the second time was in May 2019 when Stylianos first tried to commit suicide. What else did they need to know?

Authorities were quick to remove his two younger siblings after Stylianos took his own life, which shows they are capable of acting immediately when they want to. The cost was only a young boy’s life.

They may not ultimately be convicted in a legal setting of contributing to Stylianos’ death as this case appears to be unchartered territory in terms of prosecuting social welfare officials.

In the court of public opinion however, everyone involved can be absolutely found guilty of having zero empathy for the welfare of a suffering child.  Shame on all of them.