Long-term imprisonment and reformative programmes can save Nicholas Ninow: lawyer

Nicholas Ninow’s lawyer says the damage caused by his mother did not disappear.
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.

Read more of the story on TimesLIVE

BY: NOMAHLUBI JORDAAN

SOURCE: TMG DIGITAL

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