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Convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow has denied planning the rape of the seven-year-old girl in the toilet at the Dros restaurant in Pretoria last year. Ninow, who appeared at the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday for sentencing, denied that the rape was planned.
He was being cross-examined by state advocate Dorah Ngobeni in mitigation of sentence.
During a week-long trial last month, Judge Mokhine Mosopa found the 21-year-old guilty of rape, possession of drugs and defeating the ends of justice. Moments after the rape, Ninow was found naked with blood on his body with the girl still in the women’s toilet with him.
During the proceedings on Wednesday, a visibly emotional Ninow told the court that the rape was something he had to “live with everyday”.
“I made a mistake. I intentionally went out in that moment with that encounter with that girl, but my regret came to me too late,” Ninow said.
“I remember sitting on the toilet doing drugs,” he said, but said that he couldn’t recall following her into the toilet.
He said the rape incident was a blur to him, but he had known that he was in the women’s toilet because he needed to “use” drugs.
Ninow detailed how he had a difficult upbringing, and how he started using drugs aged 13 with his mother, who had always been on drugs.
“The first time I consumed chemicals [drugs] was with my mother.”
About the rape he said: “My regret came to me and I realised in that moment exactly what I was doing but I guess with my mental state, it’s not that I wasn’t aware of what I was doing. It was just that I was in a completely different mind state with the drugs.
“I couldn’t think rationally. Like I said, consequence was nothing to me. There was no emotion, I was angry, full of hatred,” he said.
Unable to control his emotions, Ninow said he was having a tough time in his life when he raped the girl. When asked by Ngobeni what he would have done had he not been high on drugs, he said he would never have touched the seven-year old girl.
Ninow also presented two letters in court – one to his family and another with a poem he wrote for the girl.
Part of the poem reads: “She may never understand and often be confused, not knowing where she stands nor why she were abused … and during this all he sits in his cell, staring at the wall knowing he’s in hell.”
To his family he wrote: “I know an apology will never be good enough or take away all your pain. I do however hope that one day you would be able to find some form of comfort in this letter. I would not blame you however if you do not believe a word I am saying and I also would not blame you if you could never forgive me for what I had done.”
Ngobeni argued that the letters were an attempt by Ninow to receive a more lenient sentence. She said he was not remorseful for what he did.
She rejected Ninow’s defence that he was high on drugs when he raped the girl, and questioned the psychological evaluation he underwent, which showed that despite previous incidents of him being high when he was with his girlfriend, he was never violent towards her.
The sentencing proceedings continue.
