Convicted Dros rapist Nicholas Ninow expected to apply for leave to appeal

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Pretoria - Convicted Dros rapist Nicholas Ninow is expected to apply for leave to appeal against his conviction and subsequent life behind bars sentence. The National Prosecuting Authority this week confirmed that Ninow is due to apply for leave to appeal on Friday in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. He first has to overcome the hurdle of applying for leave to appeal, before his appeal could be heard. It is not clear at this stage whether he will ask this division to hear his appeal or whether he will apply for leave to appeal before the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein. If his leave to appeal bid is turned down, Ninow can still directly approach the SCA.

Ngaa Murombedzi of the organisation Women and Men Against Child Abuse said they doubt that his prospects of succeeding with his application is high.

She said Judge Papi Mosopa afforded Ninow a fair trial and the judge, in sentencing him in October last year, emphasised important points, such as the impact his crime had on society and his bleak prospects of reforming.

This was especially in light of the fact that he was still using drugs in jail at the time of his trial.

“Legally he is allowed to appeal, but we hope and believe he will never get a reduced sentence.

"His sentence was appropriate for the crime he had committed,” she said.

Handing down the sentence, Judge Mosopa said he took into account the fact that Ninow is a young adult, and has an infant child, but he said that Ninow had failed to prove that he was genuinely remorseful.

Mosopa said that a happy family outing became a nightmare for the victim and her family after the little girl was raped.

This, he said, has had far-reaching implications for the entire family.

The judge said that Ninow’s introduction to hard drugs at the age of 13 by his mother was the start of the young man’s spiral into addiction.

He said that Ninow had himself been a victim of physical and sexual abuse as a child and appears to be a “broken person”.

Ninow was sentenced to life in prison a month after he was found guilty of rape, possession of drugs and defeating the ends of justice in connection with the rape of a then 7-year-old girl in the female toilets at the Dros restaurant in Silverton, Pretoria.

Ninow, 21, had confessed to raping the girl after she walked in on him while he was in the women’s bathroom using drugs.

He however refuted allegations of premeditation and maintained that he was high and had been using drugs for two days before the incident.

His version was rejected by Mosopa, who said the victim, even though she was a minor when it happened and somewhat unclear of the day in question when giving her testimony initially, had managed to inform the court that he had actually found her in the toilet after relieving herself.

Pretoria News