The Piraeus-Herakleion ferry taking Vangelis Giakoumakis body home was accompanied by friends and relatives shattered by the news of the death of the missing student at 8 p.m. on Monday. Details concerning the last days of his life at the Dairy College of Ioannina where he had been studying were filled with loneliness and incessant bullying that caused the young boy to commit suicide. Missing since February 6, national search efforts to find the 20-year-old had been to no avail.

Now dead, the boy is being returned to his place of birth, the Cretan village of Armenoi, just 8km south of Rethymnon.

Search efforts cast the spotlight on a kind, shy young student who was hardworking, respectful and sensitive. Bullies took advantage of his soft-spoken nature to make his life a living hell. The young boy handled the constant mocking with stoicism and avoided burdening others with his problems, choosing instead to put a final end to them.

He began studying at the Dairy School last year, the most difficult year of his life where a cycle of ridicule and constant degradation began part and parcel of his daily life at the school.

The college was aware of the bullying, and in a letter to his family it was revealed that the young student was facing difficulties with his fellow students. The boy was called to discuss the problems, but he chose to remain silent hoping that he could deal with the problems himself. He changed dorm rooms, but even then the situation continued with young Vangelis alone without support to handle the bullying. It is hard to understand whether it was fear or shame that caused him to choose silence over anger.

On February 6 he disappeared from the school leaving behind all his personal items that included money, ID and cell phone.

The police and investigators hired by the family searched for the missing boy. Sightings at various areas, including Athens and Piraeus, gave the family hope. Initially, people hoped that he sought calm and solace at some monastery. Unfortunately, nothing had been confirmed.

Witness accounts shed light on the bullying within the school. Stories that he was constantly mocked, pulled around on a leash, tied to chairs and henceforth slowly began to emerge.

At dawn on Sunday, the young boy’s corpse was found just 800 meters away from the school at a trench near the lake. His uncle, George Vidiadakis was called to identify the boy. The autopsy and coroner’s report showed that the young student had committed suicide sending shockwaves across social media, moving people who had never met the boy to send messages of support to the family. Demonstrations in Athens and Rethymno, Crete, held in support of the boy in the hope that the spotlight could be cast on bullying.

A day of Mourning at Armenous – Unfortunate boy’s funeral at Selli at noon

The quiet village of Armenoi is being flooeded with people from around Crete and other parts of Greece to mourn the death of the young boy. People with flowers have been heading from early in the morning, lighting candles in his memory and praying for his soul.

Tears, sorrow and pain are evident throughout the village as friends and family are trying to fathom the young boy’s untimely death. The house where Vangelis had laughed as ayoung boy has been dipped in darkness and sorrow.

His parents, sister, relatives and friends are trapped, unable to let go of the hope of finding the boy who disappeared 40 days ago. The news of his death set off a flood of tears as the village church bell tolled, loudly ringing as though the sound could blur out the family’s tragic loss. Today’s funeral marks an end to a happy life that took a brutal turn when he decided to study at the Dairy School. The funeral marks a start to legal proceedings as the family hopes to cast the spotlight on details concerning his death.

Vangelis Mother broke down. “My child… My Vangelis… My child will come in a while, my angel. Let’s take care of him as we should,” she said, waiting for her son’s dead body to arrive.