Dros rape trial proceeds despite Nicholas Ninow pleading guilty
9 September 2019
Despite pleading guilty to the rape of a seven-year-old girl in a Dros restaurant in Pretoria in September 2018, Nicholas Ninow still went on trial as the State disputed his version of events in his plea explanation.
Ninow pleaded guilty to two counts of rape , possession of an illegal substance and defeating the ends of justice in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on Monday.
Ninow pleaded not guilty to an assault charge and the State withdrew a kidnapping charge.
In his plea explanation, read out by his legal aid attorney Herman Alberts, Ninow said he had gone to the women’s bathroom to do the drug CAT, hoping that he would not get caught.
He then lowered his pants to create the impression that he was urinating while snorting more of the drug that he was caught with when he was arrested on September 22, 2018, the same day when the rape occurred.
"While I was busy taking the CAT, the complainant pushed open the door," Ninow said in the plea explanation.
The complainant indicated that she wanted to urinate, and I got off the toilet, pulled her pants down and put her on the toilet.
"In that moment, I acted impulsively, and took my penis and forced it into the complainant’s mouth. Thereafter, I penetrated the complainant’s vagina with my finger."
Ninow said he quickly realised what he was doing was wrong and stopped.
Dros waitress testifies
Moments later, the victim’s mother and others tried gaining access to the bathroom. Ninow resisted their attempts to enter the bathroom, but eventually let the door open and fled into men’s bathroom.
"During my attempts to evade capture, I realised that I still had the complainant’s underwear in my hand and threw it into the toilet bowl and flushed it away," Ninow added.
He then claims he was assaulted by patrons at the restaurant.
Following the reading out of the plea explanation, State prosecutor Dorah Ngobeni asked that the explanation be admitted as evidence and that the trial commenced.
Ngobeni explained that there were inaccuracies in the plea explanation that did not match up the State’s version of events.
The State called its first witness, the waitress who served Ninow on the day in question. The witness, who did not want to be identified, told the court that Ninow had consumed copious amounts of liquor and that he had seated himself near to the kiddies play area at the restaurant.
The self-admitted rapist sat silently in the dock thoughout the proceedings.
The trial continues.
