Father asks teacher to forgive son

The father of a student accused of stabbing his teacher in class has apologised to the victim during a hospital visit.

The father also asked for forgiveness from Avondale College teacher Dave Warren and asked him to help to get his 17-year-old son, Tae Wong Chung, out of custody.

"The father visited the teacher to apologise on behalf of his son," said a Korean Society spokesman.

Mr Warren was stabbed in the back in front of about 20 students on March 3. Tae has been charged with wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and is remanded in custody for psychiatric reports.

In a statement read to parents of students at Avondale College this week, the father, who flew from South Korea, said the incident "broke his heart".

He said his son had been feeling isolated and distressed because of the language barrier.

Avondale principal Brent Lewis confirmed the visit took place, and said the father had asked for forgiveness and the apology was "immediately accepted" by Mr Warren.

Mr Lewis said Mr Warren was recovering, and would make a statement when he was better but remained concerned that his attacker was in jail.

"What Mr Warren said to me was that he felt the prison was not the right place for the young man, and felt what was needed rather was support, advice and guidance to help set the lad up for the future."

Mr Lewis said he had visited Mr Warren several times in hospital and the teacher's attitude towards his attacker "has not been anything but compassionate".

Although Mr Lewis is working closely with the Korean Society, he said he did not see the attack as a "Korean issue", but rather "an issue concerning just this young boy".

At a meeting this week, parents at the college were told racism was not a motive for the attack on Mr Warren, who taught Japanese.

Police said at the meeting that they had interviewed all the student witnesses and were satisfied it was not a race-based attack.