The case of a female teacher who killed a student in Korea: The grandmother's heartbreaking story when she saw her grandchild

On February 10, a female teacher in her 40s stabbed to death an 8-year-old female student at Daejeon City Central Elementary School (South Korea). This incident shocked public opinion in Korea and the world.

On February 10, police in Daejeon City, 160 kilometers south of Seoul, received a report of a student missing after an art class at an elementary school. When they arrived at the scene, they found an 8-year-old girl and a female teacher with multiple stab wounds on their bodies on the second floor of the school building.

The girl was taken to hospital in an unconscious state but did not survive. Meanwhile, the female teacher suffered injuries to her neck and arms but was still conscious.

During the investigation, the female teacher admitted to harming the student. According to the police, after attacking the girl, she then self-inflicted injuries.

It is known that this female teacher had taken a break from teaching due to depression and only returned to school at the end of last year. Currently, she has undergone surgery to treat her injuries, and the police will continue to question her after her health has recovered. The unfortunate girl was attending a boarding class at the school, before going to an art class. Currently, the police are continuing to investigate to clarify the motive for the crime and the details related to the incident.

According to police and the Daejeon City Office of Education, the suspect had a dispute with another teacher at the school last Thursday. The suspect was sitting huddled and allegedly twisted the colleague's arm when the teacher approached him. Other teachers intervened, but the incident was not reported to the police. The suspect returned to the school in December after a period of leave due to psychological reasons.

On February 11, the girl was identified as Kim Ha-neul. At Konyang University Hospital in Seo-gu, Daejeon, where Ha-neul was taken after the incident, the girl's grandmother sadly said, "I still think that if I just open my arms, my little grandchild can still run to hug me like every day." She was also the first person to be present at the scene of her granddaughter's tragic incident.

Accordingly, at around 5 pm the same day, the grandmother received a phone call from her son, Mr. B, reporting that her granddaughter was missing, so she hurriedly went to look for her. "Haneul usually stays in the boarding class at school until 4:20 pm and then goes to extra classes at 4:40 pm. But after that time, I still didn't see her, so I went to look for her, but I received news that none of the children stayed at school after school hours," the grandmother informed.

At the time of the incident, Mr. B also tracked Haneul's current location through a mobile phone application and was displayed at Daejeon Elementary School. Immediately after being reported missing, the police were dispatched to search outside the school, while the father and grandmother searched inside.

"I tried to look into the audio-visual room to find my granddaughter but it was too dark. When I turned on the phone flash, I was terrified when I saw a woman's face covered in blood," said the girl's grandmother. Seeing her granddaughter's backpack right next to the woman in the locked room, the grandmother instinctively called her son and the police. After breaking the lock and rushing in, they discovered the girl covered in blood and unconscious. The woman also suffered serious injuries to her wrist and neck caused by a knife. Both were taken to the hospital by the rescue team.

Haneul, who suffered severe injuries to her arms and legs, was taken to hospital in cardiac arrest and eventually died from her injuries. The woman was identified as a teacher at the school and police said she had admitted to the crime. "I was the first to find out, but my nephew was already dead. I couldn't believe it."

According to the girl’s family, Haneul often went to the tutoring center after finishing her boarding class at school. When she received a notice from the bus to pick up students, she would go down from the classroom on the second floor by herself. The family believes that it was the female teacher who dragged Haneul, who had just left the classroom, into the audiovisual room right next door to act.

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