Ex-Employee Of Oprah's School Arrested

Dormitory Matron At South African School For Disadvantaged Charged With Sexual Assault

(CBS/AP)  A former employee of Oprah Winfrey's school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa has been arrested on charges of abuse and sexual assault, police said Friday.

A police spokesman, Supt. Lungelo Dlamini, said the 27-year-old woman, a dormitory matron at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, was arrested on Thursday by the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit.

"Several charges including alleged assault, indecent assault, criminal injury and soliciting underage girls to perform indecent acts are being investigated against her," Dlamini said.

At least seven victims have submitted statements, he said.

The woman was being held by police and was expected to appear in Sebokeng magistrate's court, south of Johannesburg, on Monday, he said.

Winfrey opened the academy for disadvantaged girls in January with great fanfare and $40 million of her own money. It was the fulfillment of a promise she made to Nelson Mandela six years ago, and aims to give 152 girls from deprived backgrounds a quality education in a country where schools are struggling to overcome the legacy of apartheid.

Winfrey has met personally with the students and their parents. In tears she reportedly told them, "I'm sorry."

Today she issued a written statement, saying in part: "It is my deepest hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and take immediate action."

Jess Cagle, entertainment editor for People magazine, says 2007 has probably been Winfrey's toughest year ever, pointing to Winfrey's troubles at her school, and her recent health problems. But he says the billionaire business woman will almost certainly bounce back.

"It is second nature to her to take a problem and deal with it, and she will be fine coming out of this," Cagle told CBS News national correspondent Byron Pitts. "There's no damage to her brand. There's no damage to her reputation."

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[justinechang]

The incident at Oprah Winfrey%u2019s school in South Africa is far from an isolated incident. Women commit acts of sexual assault far more often than most people believe, and these acts are almost never reported.

In the few days since the release of %u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary About Lesbian Rape,%u201D we have received dozens of emails from women who have been sexually assaulted by other women. Victims have repeatedly reported feeling too ashamed to report their experience, and worried that no one would believe them. As it turns out, their fears were justified. There have been multiple accounts of law enforcement officials and even judges refusing to take reports of acts of sexual violence between women seriously, suggesting that rape between women was either impossible or harmless. In reality, female rape can be just as traumatic as male rape, and the community as a whole has a responsibility to make sure that such acts of sexual violence are taken seriously.

Justine Chang, Director
Armand Kaye, Director
%u201CShe Stole My Voice: A Documentary about Lesbian Rape%u201D

[bareemperor]

"Now maybe Oprah can go back to Africa and stay there.
If she wasn''''t such a hippo-crite she''''d move back there.
"They" need her more than Chicago, unless she can play basketball better than Jordan.
----Posted by rushlimpdrug"

Whoever this imbicile is, I hope there is a die-off of the truly stupid soon. By playing every hatred card he holds dear in three sentences, he shows his utter moral decay with every word. Lordy, let me meet this guy on the street...

[udoka-2009]

God bless this woman for what she is doing with her wealth.some idiots say she is a hypocrite, well i beg to differ, what has she said that she has not done. its time for we black people to wake up! when 90 percent of our socalled black celebreties are nothing short of dumb and this woman is going around the world helping desprately poor people, we should be thanking her for a job well done.and for those of us blacks lucky to be born in america, we have got actknowledge that we are the lucky ones, if you dont think so then take a trip to africa and if you can not afford that, then take a trip to haiti, i bet you will learn to appreciate what you have in the states.

[udoka-2009]

God bless this woman for what she is doing with her wealth.some idiots say she is a hypocrite, well i beg to differ, what has she said that she has not done. its time for we black people to wake up! when 90 percent of our socalled black celebreties are nothing short of dumb and this woman is going around the world helping desprately poor people, we should be thanking her for a job well done.and for those of us blacks lucky to be born in america, we have got actknowledge that we are the lucky ones, if you dont think so then take a trip to africa and if you can not afford that, then take a trip to haiti, i bet you will learn to appreciate what you have in the states.

[toldyouso21]

I hope this case hinges on more than just the remarks or accusations of a group of girls. I hope there is evidence in some way, or the accused has a history of this to back these reports up. Oprah, who was molested as a young girl herself--and many in the public are too quick to believe the kids and discount the adult. this is chilling in that on several occasions, children have targeted teachers that they did not like and framed them with everything from physical abuse to molestation. I remember a case when I was a kid, where the students (about 5 of them) all accused the teacher of giving them apples with razor blades in them. One girl even had an ugly cut on her lip. The case fell apart when one of the accusers balked and admitted that they all had made it up because the teacher had failed the ring leader on a test. the girl wanted to pay him back so stated the man had given her and the others apples when they trick or treated at his house. The girl had become upset when she realized that the teacher would have gone to jail and not just been yelled at (innocent times then) The other girls finally also admitted and the ring leader eventually confessed too. So Oprah--proceed with your case--but watch the girls, most molestation is real--but make sure none had a beef with the matron and got the others to also accuse her just to get rid of her. It would be terrible if this tragedy was compounded with Oprah looking like a gullible fool who rushed to judgement here.

[rushlimpdrug]

Now maybe Oprah can go back to Africa and stay there.
If she wasn''t such a hippo-crite she''d move back there.
"They" need her more than Chicago, unless she can play basketball better than Jordan.

[fkaigwa]

I applaud Oprah for the steps she has taken to bring out the abuse in boarding schools. I hope all schools in Africa follow her example. Abuse is the norm in those schools.
I started boarding school at age 6, thru all primary and secondary all girls'' schools. In secondary school there was no abuse but primary school at that tender matrons and teachers used to physically abuse us. E.g. If you were caught speaking vernacular instead of English one English teacher would make us fold our fists and then she would use a like 7 inch metal key to hit our knuckles.

[rfcnj68]

The sad thing about this story is that they make a bigger deal about how this will impact Oprah and that she will bounce back. Well hooray for Oprah how about the poor kids that are emotionally scared from this how are they going to come out of this?

One would think after reading the end of this article that Oprah was the one that was molested not the kids and that is BS. Yes it is a school she founded and chartered and that is great but other than here initial statement (%u201CIt is my deepest hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and take immediate action.") nothing else should have been mentioned about her it should have been about the kids and their families.

[likeitis5050]

It is sad that predators exist in societies that can so totally blend in with the prey. I''m glad this was caught early enough not to be a long and drawn out blight on this school created to do so much good. Don''t you know those victims of this predator are going to get the very best opportunities to heal and move forward?

[jasbek]

Isn''t that sad that someone would take something that was created to do so much good and treat those children that way. I bet Oprah is furious. She has referred to the girls many times as "her girls".

[jetlizhan]

now oprah is one person i definitely would hate to **** off.