A 12-year-old non-Cypriot boy has been living on his own in a Limassol storeroom since March 26 when his mother, stepfather and the boy’s younger sibling went on holiday.
The boy’s mother is from a European country and her husband from Iran and the family travelled to Tehran and is understood to be expected back in Cyprus on Friday.
The child, who was found by the authorities on Thursday night, is now under the care of the Welfare Office. The boy, who told the police he had refused to travel to Iran, said he was being given food by a friend of his stepfather’s everyday but spent the nights alone in the storeroom.
It is not known if he had been attending school. The mother and her husband, who is the father of her younger child, are expected to be arrested on their return to Cyprus and face charges of child mistreatment and abandonment. The police noted abandoning a child under the age of 16 was considered to be a very serious offence. Cyprus Weekly
