Pedophile raped 7-year-old girl in toilet cubicle, even as she screamed for her mother to help
Authorities in South Africa are receiving flak after calling a 7-year-old to testify against her abuser, who allegedly molested her in a restaurant's toilet cubicle even as she yelled, "Mum, please help." Gauteng High Court heard how 21-year-old Nicholas Ninow "stalked his prey" in the play area before following her into the toilet cubicle of Dros restaurant in Pretoria on September 22, 2018.
According to a media report, National Prosecuting Authority Gauteng spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane, after receiving negative comments from the public over calling the minor to testify, said, "It was imperative that we call the child to come and testify and it was the only reasonable thing to do. In this case, we have Ninow who has pleaded guilty but in his version, he downplayed how events unfolded, therefore, it was important for us to call the minor to come and give the true reflection of the sequence of events."
The victim's mother also stood as a witness in the case. After hearing the child scream, the mother ran to the restroom and tried to help her child. She said, "As we pushed harder, the person inside said ‘what do you want? You are disturbing me'.” They forced the door open and the mother grabbed her child. The mother further added that seeing Ninow run naked into the men's washroom shocked her.
She left her daughter in another woman's care and followed Ninow into the men's washroom and saw him "wiping his private parts with my daughter’s tights and underwear. I asked him why he was flushing my daughter’s clothing, but he didn’t respond."
Witnesses also stated that Ninow was "high and drunk" on the day when the incident occurred. The state urged the Pretoria High Court on Thursday to convict Ninow based on the statement from the seven-year-old victim.
Citing many witnesses who stated that Ninow was moving closer to the little girl, state attorney Grace Ngobeni said, "There was no reason for him to move from that table and go and sit at the table next to the kiddie’s corner. It is my submission that the court should find that the accused had an intention of having sexual intercourse [with a child]." She also said that Ninow's confession should not be taken into consideration since he was not able to explain why he ran out of the women's washroom naked.
Ninow faces fives charges which include two counts of rape and the trial is ongoing.