Teacher jailed for 20 years after abusing 15-year-old learner
A 43-year-old teacher at Jingamvura Secondary School in Chiweshe has been jailed for 20 years after being convicted of sexually abusing a 15-year-old male learner.
Itai Baradze appeared before Bindura Regional Magistrate Sheila Nazombe, who imposed the full sentence and refused to suspend any part of it. The decision means Baradze will serve the entire 20-year term in prison.
The court heard that the learner became ill after the abuse and developed a rash on his genitalia. The condition was recorded in medical documents presented in the case.
Prosecutor Edward Katsvairo told the court in aggravation that Baradze had been entrusted with the care and protection of the student, but used that position to abuse and humiliate him instead. The prosecution argued that the offence was particularly serious because it involved a teacher and a learner under his authority.
The incident took place on June 29 at about 8.30am. The student was walking along a footpath towards Jingamvura Clinic, where he intended to seek medical attention, when he met Baradze.
Baradze allegedly asked the learner to accompany him to his house at the school. The student followed him, after which the teacher took him into his bedroom and showed him pornographic material before sexually abusing him.
The court further heard that Baradze threatened to assault the learner if he disclosed what had happened. The matter only came to light on July 7, when the student told his mother about the abuse. The disclosure led to Baradze’s arrest and the subsequent prosecution.
Nazombe’s decision to impose the full sentence places the case among a series of recent Zimbabwean sexual-abuse convictions involving young male victims and adults who had access to them through schools, homes or other positions of trust.
Kashiri was living at the school cottages when the offence took place in 2023. The court heard that he produced a letter purporting to have been written by the school’s headmaster and presented it at the school office as authorisation for him to have anal intercourse with the learner.
The former student, who is now 20, told the court that he complied because he was afraid of Kashiri. The assault happened once, according to the evidence heard during the trial.
The student later confided in his science teacher, Susan Sibanda, who advised him to report the matter to the police. The complaint was eventually made at Harare Central Police Station on June 19, 2026. The report led investigators to a wider group of men who had worked at, or were connected to, the school.
In her findings, Harare regional magistrate Jessie Kufa said Kashiri’s defence was unreasonable. She also noted that the complainant had made an immediate report to his teacher. Kufa ruled that the prosecution had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt before imposing the 20-year sentence.
Three other men linked to the Allan Wilson matter remain before the courts on separate charges involving the same former student. They are Emmanuel Venge, 54, Tafirei Kufandiroi, 53, and Obey Ariji, 30.
Venge, a former School Development Committee member and later its vice-chairperson, is accused of using a forged letter said to have come from the headmaster to lure the former student before indecently assaulting him. Kufandiroi, who worked in the school’s woodwork department, is accused of assaulting the learner and threatening him with expulsion if he spoke about the incident.
Ariji, a former security guard at the school, is accused of indecently assaulting the learner during the same period. Prosecutors say the incidents involving the three men occurred separately in 2023 while they were working at the school or were connected to its operations. Their cases are being dealt with separately from Kashiri’s conviction.
The wider Allan Wilson proceedings have also involved the school’s former headmaster, Tafara Zhou, who was accused by the former student and later acquitted after a full trial. Zhou’s case took another turn when he filed an extortion complaint against the student and Charles Masiyandaita, a former Allan Wilson teacher who claimed to be the learner’s guardian.
The State alleged in the extortion proceedings that Masiyandaita contacted Venge and demanded US$15,000 in exchange for withdrawing the assault case against Zhou. Investigators later arranged a meeting at Montague Shopping Centre, where Masiyandaita and the student were arrested after receiving US$200 as part of the operation.
The court heard that the abuse occurred on several occasions between June and July. Prosecutors said the man gave the boy money in an attempt to persuade him to remain silent. The accused denied sexually abusing the child and denied giving him money, but the court found him guilty after considering the evidence.
Tredgold Magistrate Sibonginkosi Mnkandla imposed a 20-year sentence, with five years suspended for five years on condition that the man does not commit a similar offence during the suspension period. He will therefore effectively serve 15 years in prison if he complies with the condition attached to the suspended portion.
The three cases have placed renewed focus on the vulnerability of boys and young male learners when adults use authority, access or threats to control them. In Chiweshe, the learner’s route to a clinic ended with him being taken to a teacher’s room. In Harare, a school official was convicted after using a purported authorisation letter to intimidate a student. In Bulawayo, the court heard that money was used in an alleged attempt to prevent a young child from speaking about repeated abuse.
For the Jingamvura learner, the case came to light only after he told his mother more than a week after the incident. The disclosure set in motion the arrest of a teacher who had been responsible for the safety of students at the school.
Baradze’s sentence now stands as the full 20 years ordered by the Bindura Regional Magistrate. No part of the punishment was suspended.