Image: Nomahlubi Jordaan
Convicted rapist Nicholas Ninow’s lawyer has pleaded with the Pretoria high court to impose a lesser sentence than life imprisonment on him.
Ninow admitted to raping a seven-year-old girl at a Dros restaurant in Pretoria in September 2018. The self-confessed drug addict on Wednesday presented himself as a broken man who suffered from anger issues and depression. His grandmother, Pauline Gericke, testified that Ninow was a different person when he was on drugs. He became angry, delusional and displayed signs of being a maniac, Gericke said.
His lawyer, Herman Alberts, told the court on Thursday that Ninow’s personal circumstances and background were “highly unusual”.
“You have a mother introducing her son to drugs. The damage done by the mother did not disappear,” Alberts argued.
“I have to concede he committed a very serious offence, but life imprisonment is an extreme sentence.”
He said a long-term prison sentence and reformative programmes could save Ninow.
“The accused is not a person who decided to act antisocial, to experiment with drugs. He was exposed to drugs. He needs to be reconsidered in a different footing,” Alberts argued.
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BY: NOMAHLUBI JORDAAN
SOURCE: TMG DIGITAL
