Agence France-Presse
CHICAGO--US television talk show host Oprah Winfrey said on Monday she was devastated by allegations that a dormitory matron at her elite South African's girl school was sexually abusing students and said she took ultimate responsibility.
"When I first heard about it I spent about a half-hour going around my house crying," Winfrey told a press conference in Chicago.
"This has been one of the most devastating, if not the most devastating experience of my life," said Winfrey, who founded the multi-million dollar school earlier this year with her own money.
Winfrey said she was not directly responsible for the hiring of the accused dormitory matron or other dorm "parents" at the school in Johannesburg but added that "the buck always stops with me."
Winfrey said while background checks had been carried out, the school's hiring practices would be improved.
"I think that, knowing what I know now, the screening process was inadequate. Although I do know that for every person that is hired at the school, there is both a criminal and civil background check," she said.
"We are going to define what that position should mean and what the qualifications for that position should be for the future."
She also said she had promised that all the students would be given cell phones.
The accused dorm matron, Virginia Tiny Mokgobo, 27, was granted bail on Monday after appearing in a magistrates court near the town of Henley-on-Klip, south of Johannesburg.
Arrested after a two-week investigation by local police and social workers from the United States, she faces charges including indecent assault and soliciting underage girls to perform indecent acts.
Winfrey said she had apologized to the parents and students at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy and vowed that her school in Johannesburg would bounce back from the scandal.
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