JOHANNESBURG — A woman accused of abusing teenagers at Oprah Winfrey’s school for girls in South Africa was acquitted of the charges Monday, and Winfrey said she was “profoundly disappointed” by the trial’s outcome.
Prosecutors had accused former school matron Tiny Virginia Makopo of trying to kiss and fondle girls at the school soon after it opened in 2007 outside Johannesburg. Makopo also had been accused of assaulting one of the teens and a supervisor.
“The matron who was working at the Oprah Winfrey school was found not guilty on all the sexual assault charges,” Mthunzi Mhaga, a spokesman for South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority, said Monday.
Winfrey had called the allegations crushing given her own stated history of childhood sexual abuse and promised an overhaul of the school.
The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls aims to give girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education.
