Teacher cleared of rape in just 26 minutes left ‘financially ruined’ by court ordeal
Friends of ‘crushed' Kato Harris have now launched an online fundraising appeal to help pay off his £195,000 legal bill
A HIGHLY-successful private school teacher falsely accused of raping a 14-year-old pupil three times has been left broke after defending himself in court.
Kato Harris was cleared in just 26 minutes by a jury in a verdict that sparked furious criticism of the Crown Prosecution Service’s decision to even bring the case to court.
Now the teacher's friends have rallied round to set up an online fundraising appeal to help pay off his massive £195,000 legal bill.
Mr Harris wept in the dock as he was cleared of three counts of sexually assaulting the pupil, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The former head of geography at an £18,000-a-year all-girls London secondary school was accused of raping the pupil in a classroom during lunch breaks three times in 2013.
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But Mr Harris told the court he was taking a drug for anxiety which caused loss of libido which would have been ‘completely impossible’ for him to carry out the attacks.
The court heard how the door of the classroom had a glass panel, could not be locked from the inside and was in a corridor patrolled by teachers.
The rape allegations only emerged after the girl moved to a new school.
Last night, a close friend of Mr Harris told : "Kato has been absolutely mentally and physically crushed by the stress and it has left him financially ruined and emotionally beaten up.
"It seems so unfair that a clearly innocent man has had to put himself in such a situation to clear his name for something that had never happened in the first place."
Despite winning the case, it is not certain that Mr Harris will be able to claim back his legal costs.
Any surplus funds raised from the online appeal will be donated to a charity which supports victims of sexual abuse.
The Just Giving page, set up by friend Sarah Tate, reads: ‘Justice has been done, but at a heavy cost. Kato has spent his life savings of £10,000 on legal costs for his defence and is left with a debt of £195,000. Kato has no hope of paying this.’
After being cleared on Monday, an emotional Mr Harris said outside court: "It is my sincere wish that this extraordinary case does not deter people who have been victims of sexual assault from coming forward in the future.
"There is a beautiful, wonderful world out there and for 20 months I’ve been terrified of it. I’ve been hiding from it. I’m now going to walk into it a good man and a free man."
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