A nursery school teacher told the Nicosia district court on Thursday that 14-year-old Stylianos Constantinou displayed violent and self-destructive behaviour before the age of five and that she believed it reflected violence in his home environment.

Stylianos, who died by suicide in September 2019, attended the teacher’s class during the 2009-10 school year.

The witness said she became “deeply concerned” about his behaviour from his first days at school, recalling that before he had turned five he brought a knife into the classroom and threatened other children before turning it on her.

“I reacted immediately and took the knife from him before he had realised the severity of what he had done. The impression I got was that he was treating it as a game, but nevertheless it was a particularly dangerous incident,” she told the court.

She also recalled an occasion when Stylianos climbed onto the roof of a sandpit and refused to come down despite repeated requests from teachers. On other occasions, he hung from classroom curtains and aggressively pushed desks towards classmates.

The teacher described Stylianos as “a very sweet and cute child” who became “a completely different child” when he got cross.

“I was under the strong impression that his behaviour reflected what he was experiencing in his family environment. He brought the shouting and the intense reactions to school every day,” she said, describing him as “very aggressive” at times.

According to the teacher, Stylianos was “dangerous for the other children in the school and for himself”.

She told the court she had been informed by educational psychologists that the mother’s husband was violent and that police had already been notified about alleged abuse and child protection concerns.

The witness also said it appeared the boy’s mother struggled to leave the relationship because she was financially dependent on her husband.

On the other hand, on Stylianos’ name day, the family held a party and the boy took photos and crafts to school the next day, the teacher said.

She furthermore told the court that one could tell what was going on at home through his vocabulary, saying things such as “I will shoot you”, “I will put you in prison” and “I will beat you with the belt”.

Although Stylianos never told her directly that either parent had beaten him, she said similar references had been made during sessions with the educational psychologist.

Referring to the parents, she said the mother was at the school almost every day and was aware of the boy’s behaviour and the school’s interventions, but the father rarely appeared and she had seen him just three times during the whole school year – at a Christmas party, at a scheduled meeting and after an intense quarrel with the mother, when he picked up Stylianos from school and the boy was then absent for over a week.

“The image I had of the father was that he was exceptionally distant and did not want any contact with the school,” she said.

The teacher said she formally reported her concerns on October 9, 2009, requesting an assessment and support for Stylianos. The educational psychologist later confirmed the need for an evaluation.

She added that things got worse and Stylianos was becoming “more aggressive and destructive”.

In some cases, Stylianos was “hitting his head on the wall, pulling his hair forcefully and pricking his hand with pins”.

Fearing his safety, the teacher requested a school assistant, however the request was rejected.

The hearing will continue on Friday at 11am with the cross-examination of the witness.

The case concerns the circumstances surrounding Stylianos’ death and is examining alleged abuse and neglect within the family, as well as whether the social welfare services adequately responded to warning signs before his death.