Teacher Held for Slaying Pupil

An art teacher in east China's Jiangsu Province who was detained for allegedly strangling a 12-year-old student to death said she killed him to retaliate against his mother who was always bad-mouthing her, police said yesterday.

Wu Liqing, 37, an art teacher from Chenxi Primary School in Jintan City, pretended she would teach the six-grader, whose name was not disclosed, traditional Chinese painting and lured him to the art room on Wednesday morning, according to initial police investigation.

The boy's body was found at 11:56 AM, with his lips and face turned blue while Wu went missing, Legal Daily reported.

A taxi driver surnamed Xie told Changzhou Evening News that local police had sent three messages since 1pm on Wednesday, asking cabbies for clues about the woman's whereabouts.

One message read: "All taxi drivers! Pay attention! Please call 110 if you see a fat and short-haired woman who is about 160 centimeters in height and wearing a feather jacket and black legging."

Police traced Wu to a local residential complex at 5:00 PM. She admitted having prepared ropes and strangled the boy.

She said the boy's mother surnamed Shi, also a teacher in the school, was once her close friend and had relieved her when she and her husband were stuck in a divorce crisis. But the whole school later knew about her domestic dispute and she suspected Shi of spilling the beans and decided to take revenge, she told police.

"He loved to draw. It is shocking that he was killed like this!" a grieving family member said.