Schoolteacher, 63, jailed for raping pupil with intellectual disability

A 63-year-old primary school teacher who raped his 13-year-old pupil with an intellectual disability has had his 18-year prison sentence upheld by the Bulawayo High Court.

Clever Mutero, who taught a special class for learners with disabilities at a primary school in Redcliff, was 62 when the offences were committed. He was convicted of two counts of rape and sentenced to 18 years on each count, to run concurrently.

The High Court found the case involved a serious abuse of trust and the exploitation of a vulnerable child for whom Mutero had acted in “loco parentis” (in the place of a parent).

The court heard that before the assaults, Mutero had groomed the girl by sending her on errands and, on one occasion, collecting her from Torwood Shopping Centre, driving her to his house and taking her into an empty room. He never disputed that account.

The first rape occurred in the first term of 2024, when Mutero called the girl into a classroom while she was at school and separated her from another child before raping her. She reported the incident to another teacher afterwards.

The second assault occurred in the third term of 2025, after the girl had completed one of her Grade 7 examinations.

On that occasion, Mutero called the girl into the staffroom, locked the door and drew the curtains before raping her again. The girl later confided in friends, who accompanied her to the same teacher she had told previously.

She subsequently disclosed the abuse to her maternal aunt after developing vaginal thrush. She was taken to Kwekwe General Hospital, where a medical examination confirmed a ruptured hymen and definite penetration.

Mutero denied both allegations. He argued that the girl’s evidence was unreliable and that the second assault could not have happened because the staffroom was normally too busy.

The High Court rejected that defence. Justice Mpokiseng Dube, sitting with Justice Vivian Ndlovu, found that despite her intellectual disability, the girl had given a coherent and consistent account.

The judges noted that she had repeated the essential details of the abuse to several people, including her friends, her aunt and a psychiatrist.

That repetition, Justice Dube said, “strengthens credibility and reduces the likelihood of fabrication.”

The court also dismissed the argument about the staffroom. Defence witnesses could not establish that anyone was actually present in the room at the time of the assault, and the trial magistrate had been entitled to accept the girl’s evidence that the room was empty.

“We all know that having sex does not require a lot of time… A chance may just present itself,” the trial magistrate had observed.

In upholding the sentence, the High Court said the aggravating features far outweighed the mitigation. Although Mutero was a first offender who had served at the school for many years without blemish, was approaching retirement and had lost his job as a result of the case, he had exploited his position as the child’s teacher and her particular vulnerability.

Mutero had appealed against both conviction and sentence, seeking an acquittal or, alternatively, a reduction to seven years.

Justice Dube dismissed the appeal in its entirety for lack of merit, with Justice Ndlovu concurring.

More: ZimLive

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