A special education teacher told Nicosia district court on Tuesday that Stylianos Constantinou, who died by suicide in September 2019 at the age of 14, had told her as a young child that he intended to kill his father.

The witness testified for the prosecution in an ongoing court case examining possible responsibility for the boy’s death both within his family and among state services.

Reading from testimony she had given to criminal investigators in 2020, she told the court that Stylianos had said, “I will slaughter my father like he slaughters goats” while making a cutting motion across his throat.

She said he had also told her, “I’ll kill him when I grow up, if he makes my mum cry again”.

The witness had been involved in evaluating Stylianos for special education needs when he was five years old, alongside his class teacher and a speech therapist, a process that led the special education district committee to allocate him several hours of special education weekly.

She told the court he was frequently “sullen” and arrived at school particularly distressed on Mondays, requiring staff to wash and groom him before lessons could begin, a routine she said was repeated regularly.

She described Stylianos as “almost always unkempt, dirty,” saying other children would not sit near him because “he smelled strongly,” and that staff struggled to include him in group activities despite efforts to intervene.

She also recounted an incident in which the boy overturned desks, chairs and belongings in his classroom, requiring several teachers to calm him down.

The witness described Stylianos’ mother as “tired” and “sad,” recalling that she had explained keeping her younger child in the car during winter months to stay warm while she worked on the family farm.

She further testified that meetings with the boy’s father left her fearful, and that staff had raised concerns regarding his exposure to animal slaughter on the farm.

She said the father initially agreed to consider relocating the family before later withdrawing that agreement through a message sent via the mother.

At a disciplinary meeting held in February 2011, the witness said she raised concerns that Stylianos had arrived at school with a head injury and “serious issues of neglect,” alongside reports that his father had told him “not to listen to the teacher.”

Cross examination of the witness has been scheduled for October 2.