South Africa This article is more than 13 years oldMatron cleared of abuse at Oprah Winfrey school says case left her 'humiliated'
This article is more than 13 years oldProsecutors had accused Tiny Virginia Makopo of trying to kiss and fondle pupils at TV host's Leadership Academy for Girls near Johannesburg in 2007A woman acquitted of sexually abusing girls at a South African school set up by the television host Oprah Winfrey has told how the case left her "humiliated, broke and unemployed".
Prosecutors had accused Tiny Virginia Makopo, a former school matron, of trying to kiss and fondle pupils at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls soon after it opened near Johannesburg in 2007.
But the 28-year-old was yesterday cleared of all 14 charges against her when a magistrate ruled the case was unproven and the pupils had not corroborated each other's evidence.
Makopo declined to say whether she would forgive US talkshow host Winfrey and the staff of the academy.
She said she was uncertain whether she would now pursue legal action but was "weighing her options".
"I do not know what steps I am going to take right now, but life for me for the past three years was nothing but hell," she told the Times of South Africa today.
"I have been struggling. This case has left me humiliated, broke and unemployed."
Makopo has been without a job since her suspension from the school in September 2007. Her car was repossessed during one of her earlier court appearances.
She said the verdict had lifted a weight from her shoulders, adding: "I am so happy, I just do not know what to say. I can't believe that this case is finally over and that I am finally free.
"The news of my acquittal has not completely sunk into my system. I don't know what to do. I just want to go home and relax."
The nine alleged victims were aged between 13 and 15 when they made their claims against Makopo, who was also accused of assaulting one of the teenagers as well as a fellow supervisor.
But at Sebokeng magistrates court, magistrate Thelma Simpson ruled: "There were numerous contradictions in the state witnesses' testimony. The learners were unable to provide accurate dates of the incidents.
"Some witnesses exaggerated their evidence. One witness contradicted herself as to how and where she was assaulted by the accused."
Winfrey had called the allegations crushing, especially because of her own stated history of childhood sexual abuse, and promised an overhaul of the school. Yesterday, she made her unhappiness with the verdict clear.
"We began this child molestation trial in July 2008," she said. "More than two years later, I am profoundly disappointed at the outcome of the trial.
"I will forever be proud of the nine girls who testified with the courage and conviction to be heard."
In March, Winfrey settled a defamation lawsuit filed in Philadelphia by the school's former headmistress, Nomvuyo Mzamane, who claimed Winfrey had defamed her in remarks made in the wake of the 2007 abuse scandal at the school.
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