The third-grade teacher of Stylianos Constantinou told the Nicosia district court on Wednesday that he informed the headmaster regarding marks on the boy’s body which had been attributed to his father.

The witness said it was his duty to inform a member of the school’s violence prevention team and that the headmaster was one.

He said there were indications of beatings and that the child had said they came from his father.

The prosecution cited an education ministry manual that requires school staff to report cases when told a child is experiencing domestic violence.

The incident occurred when Stylianos was in second grade, when the boy complained of back pain during class, whereupon the school matron and speech therapist called the teacher to see the marks.

Stylianos took his own life at the age of 14, with the trial examining whether family or state service negligence contributed to his death.

On Monday the same teacher described the boy as a gentle child who saved school food for his siblings and resembled “a saintly recluse”.

He said Stylianos arrived with dirty clothes and an unpleasant odour, and that the school tried to support him.

The defence also questioned him regarding statements made in his main testimony that were absent from his testimony in 2020, which the witness said he had testified unprepared and emotionally charged.

On the decision to end the boy’s school escort, he said it was collective and that he had reservations.

He said he was told the matter would be reviewed if problems arose, and rejected the suggestion that he had agreed the child no longer needed support.

He said the canteen head had agreed with the mother that Stylianos would receive food and that she would pay for it, and that the child also received free meals through a ministry programme.

He had no personal knowledge that there was no food at the home, as he had not visited the family, and the information came from what the child told his escort.

He said the boy’s clothes smelled strongly of farm animals and ruled out mould as the cause. “I don’t think clean clothes can absorb such a bad smell just by being next to dirty clothes,” he said. He said he or his wife bought clothes for the boy but kept no receipts.

Four members were among five deceased individuals discovered Sunday night in a home in Mundelein, Illinois, around 11:45 p.m.

The post Illinois: Four Family Members Among Dead in Apparent Murder-Suicide appeared first on Breitbart.

Stylianos Constantinou’s second and third grade primary school teacher said on Monday that the boy – who took his own life when he was 14 – saved his school food to share with his siblings, never spoke ill of anyone and resembled “a saintly recluse”.

The prosecution witness told the Nicosia district court that Stylianos faced learning challenges and that the school made efforts to support him.

He also described the concerns that had been voiced regarding the boy’s living conditions.

Stylianos went to school without having done his homework, his clothes, face and fingernails were dirty, his hair was uncombed, he often wore shoes that were too big for him and he emitted an unpleasant odour, which discouraged his classmates from sitting next to him, the teacher said.

“When I passed from the children’s desks to correct work and reached Stylianos’ desk, I used to take a deep breath, correct the work and move on before inhaling again,” he said, adding that some days were worse than others.

Stylianos’ escort used to help him wash his hands and face at school, brush his teeth and comb his hair. Everyone tried to help him socialise. At first Stylianos used to sit alone during breaks, but gradually started to participate in games, although he remained “very reserved”, the teacher added.

Referring to the boy’s diet, the teacher said “we identified early on that his breakfast was deficient.”

Stylianos used to take a slice of cheese of a few olives to school. The teacher and escort made sure he received food or bought him something from the school canteen.

However, Stylianos often saved this food to share with his siblings.

“Whenever I brought him some cake my wife had baked, the next day he would bring wild asparagus to school for me to take home,” the teacher said.

Stylianos’ mother would cite financial difficulties and complained that the father did not buy food or clothes for the family. The teacher said the whole community helped and that he himself had on a few occasions given clothes, while his family bought dehydrated milk for the family.

The teacher added that Stylianos had significant learning difficulties and was thus given different homework.

Made to help on farm

Questioned by the prosecution, the teacher said Stylianos mentioned he had to help out at the farm after school. He also suspected the mother did the boy’s homework for him, which led the teacher to advise against Stylianos going to the farm.

Towards the end of school days, Stylianos would become agitated and would be the last to leave after the bell rang.

In October 2011, Stylianos tore his homework, overturned chairs and desks, and caused damage to the writing boards.

“He ruined the classroom. He was completely out of control,” the teacher said.

When his mother hugged him, Stylianos hit her. According to the teacher, the mother told him not to do what his father did, which led him to the conclusion that the child had been witnessing domestic violence.

As time went by, Stylianos began to trust his teacher and his escort, the witness said.

“If I had known how things would end – and this is something I regret – I would have kept a diary. I would have something to write everyday […] I didn’t keep a diary. This is one of my mistakes and I admit it,” the teacher said.

He also recalled a time when Stylianos complained of back pain to his escort and they found he was bruised. The social services were notified and visited the school a fortnight later when the bruises had faded, the teacher said.

Statement given to police

In May 2013, the mother told the school that the father had beaten Stylianos, who later gave a recorded statement to the police.

Meanwhile, in February 2013, the school was told that Stylianos would no longer be given an escort. The officer said she would not send an escort to brush his hair and wash his face and, despite efforts to persuade her to change her mind, the escort was removed.

Replying to questions, the teacher said Stylianos did not speak positively about his parents, but then again he did not complain about them.

“Imagine a saintly ascetic who eats sparingly, who is hungry but does not eat, saving his food to share with his siblings, who never speaks ill of anyone,” the teacher said.

The trial into possible family or state service negligence that led to the boy’s suicide will continue on Tuesday with the cross examination of the witness.

Eve Livingston sensitively draws us into the worlds of two women who share a similar past: abusive partners who committed suicide. Through powerful scene‑setting, we’re there when each woman hears the news, and we feel the complex emotions these deaths provoke. This is a difficult, complicated subject—not often tackled. Livingston bravely shines a light on how, in these particular circumstances, suicide can bring both grief and relief.

Things started as they so often do: he was older, professionally successful in a similar field to Siri’s, and there was something “magnetic” about him. There was also, she came to realise, a darkness beneath the surface. A tragic bereavement in his past had left him struggling with his mental health, something which immediately evoked sympathy in Siri and made him seem a deeper and more sensitive person, qualities she was drawn to. At the beginning of their relationship, he would often turn up uninvited to her home or events she was attending, or bombard her with messages — behaviour she now views as stalking, but found flattering in those hazy early days of a new relationship.

No doubt Ed Davey lovingly cares for his disabled son, says Joanna Gray. But he's not his "carer"; he's his father. It's a distinction Britain is fast losing sight of, to the detriment of us all.

The post No Ed Davey, You’re a Father, Not a “Carer” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Stormy Morse lost two partners to gun suicide. She didn’t know that the second one, Lewis Tabler, had made the National Rifle Association the beneficiary of his retirement savings through its planned-giving program. In this feature, co-published with The New Yorker, Mike Spies describes what happens when the NRA, which has long denied a connection between access to guns and suicide rates, comes to collect:

Fisher, the NRA’s planned-giving director … e-mailed Applied Industrial, pointing out that Tabler had been dead for two months, and that “accounts with properly designated beneficiaries” are “generally available for distribution within 7–10 business days.” He went on, “We want to do whatever is needed to make this a smooth process.”

Meanwhile, multiple debt collectors had filed claims against Tabler’s estate, and the register of wills informed Stormy that she also owed an inheritance tax, since she was now the sole owner of the home.

As a favor, a neighbor of Stormy’s who was a lawyer spoke to the NRA’s assistant general counsel, Sarah Gervase, on her behalf. The neighbor raised the possibility that the organization might give up some of the money, according to Gervase, who recounted the exchange in an e-mail with Applied Industrial in early June. Gervase wrote that she “informed” Stormy’s neighbor that the “NRA is not willing to settle this.” Tabler’s cause of death did not seem to have any bearing on the organization’s position.