The Supreme Court has rejected an application by two welfare services officers seeking to overturn a district court ruling, admitting statements made by the late Stylianos Constantinou as hearsay evidence in the criminal trial over his death.

The decision, made public on Tuesday, dismisses the officers’ request, which sought to annul the Nicosia district court’s interim ruling and suspend the criminal proceedings pending consideration of their application.

The two officers are among 11 defendants facing charges connected to the death of Stylianos Constantinou, who died by suicide in 2019 aged 15. The case also involves his parents and seven other Social Welfare Services employees.

The application followed the district court’s June 26 decision to admit statements made by Stylianos as hearsay evidence after rejecting objections raised by the defence.

In their application, the officers argued that the lower court had exceeded its jurisdiction, asking the Supreme Court to intervene.

The court said the issues raised by the applicants could instead be addressed through the normal appeals process, stressing that privileged writs are reserved for exceptional circumstances.

The officers had argued that exceptional circumstances existed because the prosecution intended to call numerous witnesses who would recount statements made by the deceased.

The Supreme Court rejected that position, ruling that allegations of legal error and the prospect of a lengthy trial did not justify the exercise of its exceptional jurisdiction.

“The questioning of the correctness of the appealed decision and the alleged violation of case law and legislation on their part does not in itself constitute an exceptional circumstance,” the court said.

It concluded that the applicants had failed to demonstrate sufficient grounds to justify granting permission for the writs or suspending either the district court’s ruling or the criminal proceedings.

The trial before the Nicosia district court is continuing.