Arrest Made in Oprah Abuse Scandal
by Gina Serpe
Oprah Winfrey's justice has proven swift.
Two weeks after the talk-show maven hightailed it to her eponymous Leadership Academy for Girls amid accusations of employee abuse toward students, a former dormitory matron at the school has been formally arrested by South African police.
Police Superintendent Lunge Dlamini said that a 27-year-old woman, who had been working in the residence halls of the all-girl school, was arrested Thursday after seven students submitted statements alleging assault and various abuse at the hands of the employee.
"Several charges including alleged assault, indecent assault, criminal injury and soliciting underage girls to perform indecent acts are being investigated against her," Dlamini said in a statement.
Police did not release her name.
The woman, who was collared by the department's Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offenses Unit, is being held in police custody and is expected to appear in Sebokeng Magistrate's Court, just outside Johannesburg, on Monday. Winfrey's academy is located near the capital, in Henley-on-Klip.
The arrest is the latest chapter in school sex-abuse saga. Winfrey immediately fired the woman and suspended the school's principal with pay to ensure an impartial investigation.
The allegations surfaced only after one of the pupils ran away from the school, apparently because she could no longer tolerate the abuse.
According to reports, the dorm patron had been accused of fondling one girl and being physically and verbally abusive to several others, including grabbing them around the neck, beating them and hurling them against a wall.
The talk-show host, who personally selected all the students for the $46 million state-of-the-art school when it opened in January, twice visited the campus in the wake of the scandal and even brought in U.S. investigators to help South African authorities. The detectives turned over their findings to the police within the past week.
Winfrey has subsequently given students, whom she refers to as "my daughters," her private phone number, email and snail-mail address so that they can contact her at any time with concerns of any nature. According to NBC News, Winfrey is also handing out cell phones to every student in the school in order to better facilitate contact.
Copyright 2007 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment