Korean Student Stabs Japanese Teacher in NZ
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
A 17-year-old Korean student in New Zealand stabbed a teacher in a high school classroom, Tuesday.
David Warren, a Caucasian teacher in his 50s teaching Japanese at Avondale College in Auckland, was writing on the whiteboard when the student stabbed him from behind with a knife shortly before noon, according to the New Zealand Herald.
The incident took place in front of a class of some 20 students.
Police arrested the boy, who was fleeing on a motor scooter, about an hour later.
Warren was taken to Auckland Hospital. His injuries were serious but not life threatening, according to the school officials.
They said the student was a Korean national who had been at the school for only three to four weeks. The boy, charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, appeared in Auckland District Court Wednesday. His parents were on their way to New Zealand from Korea, Korean consulate staff member Jun Lee told the newspaper.
Some students said racial sensitivity might have triggered the stabbing. ``Yesterday (Monday), some kids in that class said (the teacher) must've said a joke about South Korea ― and that guy's from South Korea,'' a student was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity.
Brent Lewis, the school principal, said that he knew nothing of claims of a racial remark.