Former Orlando Pirates Coach Micho Milutin Sredojevic has been acquitted of a sexual assault charge on appeal at the Grahamstown Magistrate Court today.The football coach was successfully convicted and sentenced to three years suspended sentence after he was accused by a hotel employee of touching her inappropriately and demanding that she sleeps with him.
NOT GUILTY
Zimoja can reveal that two years after the current Uganda national team coach, Micho as he was affectionately known among Pirates supporters, has successfully appealed his conviction and sentence. In the judgment handed on Friday morning , Judge Griffiths and Rugananan ordered that Micho was not found guilty on all counts and that he be acquitted. "The conviction and the sentence is hereby set aside," reads the judgment.
AN AGENDA
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Micho has from the onset of the case titled it, a frivolous, unscrupulous and dirty agenda to taint his image and to destroy his name by those who wanted to see the back of him and to stop him from undertaking any football coaching jobs in Africa. In a statement released after the judgment, Micho said he had become a subject unpleasant discussions, and a reference was also made about him to say he was under a cloud of misdemeanour by those who wanted to destroy him as a result of the case.
"My name was no longer spoken in relation to my own work and first love, football and being on field, but that of a suspect and convicted of malicious prosecution. For the past two years my reputation and image were questioned and the work I had done in the field of play over the past 20 years of being in Africa became meaningless as I was now defined by an embarrassing scandal that threatened my career ," said Micho in his statement. In the same statement, Micho said the judgment does not only restore his belief in the justice system of South Africa but also reassures him and everyone that no one's rights can be violated without recourse in law.
