A FORMER employee at the Oprah Winfrey Academy for Girls in Henley-on-Klip, Vaal, has testified how former dormitory parent Tiny Virginia Makopo assaulted and threatened her.

Testifying in the Sebokeng magistrate's court yesterday, Promise Mweli said: "I knew Makopo as a colleague and we worked together at the school. Our relationship was good but suddenly it changed.

"She confronted me after I had had a chat with some of the girls. She said I had told the pupils to disrespect her, which I did not do."

Mweli said Makopo threatened "to sort me out once and for all".

"She asked me what I had told the girls. I told her that I could not speak with her since she was mad at me. She got angry and pushed me around, saying I was a liar and two-faced,"Mweli said.

Makopo then pushed her around and insulted her. Mweli said she told her colleagues about the incident.

"I didn't want to work with her anymore and wanted to press assault charges against her. But she came to me and apologised," Mweli said.

She said the second incident was when she heard Makopo yelling at a pupil in a classroom and throwing things on the floor. The pupil laid charges against Makopo.

"I asked her what was wrong and she pushed me and insulted me. She said she would kill anyone who tried to take the pupil away from her."

Makopo is accused of sexually assaulting six pupils at the academy.

The trial continues today.