Ninow influenced by drugs, court hears in appeal bid
The High Court in Pretoria reserved judgment on Friday in the application by convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow for leave to appeal parts of his conviction and sentence.
Ninow pleaded guilty to raping a 7-year-old girl in a toilet at a Dros restaurant in Silverton.
After a week-long trial in September last year, the 22-year-old was sentenced to life in prison for rape, to run concurrently with five years for defeating the ends of justice and another five years for possession of drugs.
Ninow’s lawyer, Advocate Herman Alberts, told the court they believe that another court may come to a different conclusion if they are granted leave to appeal.
Alberts said the grounds for seeking to appeal because they believe the court ignored their submissions that Ninow is a drug addict who did not plan to commit the crime.
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"You have got a person for whom drug abuse was normalised, that is how he grew up and he didn't have a chance of avoiding that.”
State prosecutor, Advocate Dora Ngobeni, opposed the application.
"The appellant in this regard wants the court to believe he acted impulsively and he was already in the toilet cubicle. Rape is a process, your lordship, one cannot just impulsively rape, there has to be an erection, undressing, and penetration. My submission is that it cannot be said that he did not pre-meditate the murder,” Ngobeni told the court.
Alberts also said they wanted to challenge the sentence as it has a possibility of limiting the prospects of success when Ninow is considered for parole in 15 to 20 years’ time.
