Mommy, please help me! – child
Dros rape victim’s mother gives evidence
THE mother of the 8-year-old girl who was raped at the Dros restaurant last year in September has told the court how her daughter cried out for help after Nicholas Ninow locked himself inside a cubicle with her.
“I’m not okay with what I have witnessed... I don’t think I’ll ever be okay, I’ll continue going to counselling, together with the child,” she said in-between sobs.
To protect the identity of the minor, the mother cannot be identified.
Wrapping up proceedings on the third day of the rape trial of 21-yearold Ninow yesterday, the mother detailed the events of the day her daughter was raped.
The child was 7 at the time. The mother said they arrived at the restaurant after 2pm and the child went to the kiddies’ corner to play.
After some time, she went to check on the child but couldn’t find her and asked the childminder where she was.
She was told the child had gone to the toilet.
“She wasn’t there. I called out her name and she didn’t answer. I went back to the childminder and told her ‘I can’t find my child’.”
Together with the childminder, she went back to the toilet and called out for her daughter again, and this time the child responded: “Mommy, please help me!”
They pushed the door and the person behind it said: “You are disturbing me.”
The mother said they kept pushing the door until it opened. “I carried my child out, and he (Ninow) came out naked and ran to the males’ toilet.
“I followed him and I found him cleaning his private parts with the child’s clothes. He was using her panties and under his arm he was still holding her tights. He quickly flushed the panties and I asked him why is he doing that? And he didn’t respond.”
The mother said she discovered her child was wearing only her skirt and T-shirt.
“When I picked her up I noticed blood on her skirt. I didn’t check where it was coming from, she was crying.”
Earlier yesterday, the girl testified via a CCTV monitor. The courtroom was cleared to protect her identity.
Ninow handed in a plea explanation to the court on Monday in which he pleaded guilty to rape, possession of drugs and defeating the ends of justice, but not guilty to assault charges.
The State decided to continue with the trial due to the discrepancies between Ninow’s plea explanation and the State’s evidence. The matter continues.