Staff Reporter.
Convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow, infamously known as the Dros rapist, has been granted leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence after petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) directly.
Ninow was sentenced to life in prison after he assaulted a 7-year-old in the bathroom of a Dros restaurant in 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 had detailed his history of drug abuse,which began when he was 13 years old after being introduced to CAT by his mother.
Ninow however refuted allegations of premeditation and maintained that he was high and had been using drugs for two days before the incident.
In his judgment, Judge Mokhine Mosopa referenced the scourge of gender-based violence in South Africa, and that the court had been asked not to be shy to impose sentences that could function as a deterrent. “The objective of sentencing is not to satisfy public opinion even if the sentence does not satisfy the public. A court can not make choices in the sense that it will find favour of public opinion.”
The case became one of the most intensely followed rape trials in South Africa.
Following direct petitions to the Supreme Court of appeals, it is allowing him to plead his case.