Student kills teacher over reminders to get 'proper haircut'

MANILA, Philippines - A 15-year-old boy reportedly stabbed dead his teacher in Caloocan City yesterday after she repeatedly warned him he would be expelled if he does not get a proper haircut.

Chief Inspector Moner Orang, commander of Caloocan City police Sub-station 4, identified the victim as Teodora Soner, 34, a resident of Barangay Loma de Gato in Marilao, Bulacan.

The teacher succumbed to a stab wound in the back while being taken to the Rodriguez Memorial Hospital.

“The boy resented the teacher’s advice telling him to have a proper haircut or he would be dropped from classes. It was just a simple teacher’s reminder to a student,” Orang told The STAR.  

Orang said the boy waited for Soner to arrive at the Manuel L. Quezon High School in Barangay 185 at around 5:30 a.m. yesterday, and attacked her as she alighted from a motorcycle driven by a friend.

The boy tried to escape after the incident but the police were able to arrest him. “We will file a murder case against the boy but since he is a minor, it would now be up to the social welfare department or the fiscal to endorse or deny the case because they are the authorities on this,” Orang said.

The police were set yesterday to turn over the boy to the custody of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.