Mourning Larnaca father speaks from the heart

The father of the two Larnaca siblings, the little girl who was stabbed to death by her brother, has posted a video accusing state officials of wanting to “wash their hands” of any responsibility in his family tragedy.

The man in the video, speaking in Greek with a foreign accent, told his viewers that he understood his 13-year-old boy was having mental health issues but blamed a medical officer and psychiatrist for not doing enough to help diagnose him properly or refer the early teen to get appropriate treatment.

Boy’s problem neglected from young age

“From a very young age, Alex never had an easy life because he was kept away in a special class” without getting proper treatment, the father said.

“I would always give them my consent,” the father said throughout the video, referring to parental consent needed for treatment. He said he never disagreed with his boy being in a special class but “for many years, from first grade, it has been six years that they haven’t done anything,” he added.

“Now they want to wash their hands of this family tragedy. I believe it is because they don’t want people to know the truth,” he said.

“I’ll tell you this, I couldn’t stay silent otherwise this angel (pointing to his daughter’s photo) would have died in vein,” he added.

“They knew my boy was sick. The school psychologist knew that Alex was sick. The psychiatrist knew that the boy was sick. All of these people around here also knew this.”

Money was not enough to raise his family

The father also said a medical note he obtained from a medical administrator about his son was not sufficient to qualify the family for a higher Minimum Guaranteed Income, which meant he had to seek additional income elsewhere.

He said the note described the problem as a “light case” of a disorder (not disclosed in the video), meaning that the boy could sit at home while the dad went out for work, according to the video.

“I was always here at home to support my children, in this house. I was out that day out of necessity,” the man said, who often had to find odd jobs to supplement his low income.

He then went on to explain that the sources of monthly income for the single-parent family came to under €600, according to the video, saying it was not enough even for two weeks to cover basic necessities as over half the amount went to pay rent.

But no officials from the state offered to help according to the father, who said the boy was in need of psychological help but neither got proper treatment nor was it possible to be supervised home at all times due to financial constraints.

The dad asked the public to share the video to put pressure on officials to answer his question “why did this happen” but also saying this could happen to other families too.

“I don’t want this to happen ever again,” he said, asking social media users to do what they can by picking up the phone and making calls. He also provided his number if people wanted to reach out to him.

The psychiatrist, who was not named in the video, had seen the boy at least three times according to the father, who is now wondering publicly whether officials dropped the ball in his case.

The boy remains in Athalassa Psychiatric Hospital in Nicosia, as there are no underage facilities in Cyprus.