Dros rapist Ninow to spend life behind bars
Offender was introduced to drugs by his mother and was sexually abused
Dros rapist Nicholas Ninow has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Judge Papi Mosopa handed down the sentence shortly after 3pm on Thursday.
The ruling was met by cheers from the gallery.
Ninow admitted to raping a seven-year-old girl at a Dros restaurant in Silverglen‚ Pretoria last year.
In delivering the judgment‚ Mosopa said the evidence was “overwhelming” against Ninow.
Mosopa added that the victim was now scared of being in the company of men‚ and that Ninow had violated a child he should have protected.
He said rape was a degrading offence and was worse when committed against a child.
The child – according to forensic social worker Karen Botha‚ who compiled a victim impact assessment report on the girl and her family – has nightmares about Ninow every night‚ the court heard earlier on Thursday as part of mitigation and aggregation of sentence procedures.
“She [the child] says she still sees the accused when she goes to bed‚” Botha said.
Botha said the child told her that Ninow had threatened to kill her if she told anyone about what he had done to her.
Mosopa said Ninow appeared to be a broken person.
Describing Ninow’s upbringing, Mosopa said: “The person who was supposed to protect him introduced him to drugs.” He was referring to evidence that Ninow’s mother brought drugs into his life. The court earlier heard that Ninow had a “chaotic” childhood‚ and was exposed to drugs by his mother. He was also sexually abused but it was not revealed by whom.
Ninow’s grandmother, Pauline Gericke, earlier told the court that Ninow was an impulsive person and had anger issues. He also displayed anger towards himself, she said.
She described her grandson as a “bubbly” person who would “go out and do it”.
She pleaded with the public not to judge Ninow’s mother, who introduced him to drugs.
“My daughter is clean now. I ask that you don’t judge her too harshly.
“She lives with the guilt.” Earlier on Thursday Ninow’s lawyer Herman Alberts told the court that Ninow’s personal circumstances and background were “highly unusual”.
“You have a mother introducing her son to drugs. The damage done by the mother did not disappear‚” Alberts argued.
“I concede he committed a very serious offence‚ but life imprisonment is an extreme sentence.” He said a long prison sentence and reformative programmes could save Ninow.
“He is not a person who decided to act antisocial‚ to experiment with drugs. He was exposed to drugs. He needs to be reconsidered on a different footing‚” Alberts argued.
He contended that Ninow acted “irrationally” when he raped the girl.