Pretoria - Nicholas Ninow, the 21-year-old who has confessed to raping an eight-year-old girl in the ladies bathroom the Dros restaurant, faces possible life sentence when the Gauteng North High Court issues its judgment on Monday.
The accused claims he raped the child after she walked in on him while he was in the women’s bathroom, where he was using drugs.
But, during closing arguments on Friday, state prosecutor Dorah Ngobeni questioned Ninow’s explanation. She said that was not the version the girl had given to the court in her evidence in camera.
“She told the court that she went into the bathroom and he came in after her. The court should therefore find that he followed the little girl into the bathroom, undressed, threatened her and raped her," Ngobeni argued.
She said Ninow had not acted on impulse, as he wanted the court to believe.
The girl was only seven years old when she was attacked.
A witness described how the accused was found with the child inside a toilet cubicle. He was naked and had blood all over. The accused was seen trying to flush the child's underwear down the toilet.
Ninow's legal representative, Herman Alberts, agreed the court would correct to convict his client based on his own admission of guilt.
However, the lawyer said the state had not proved the crime was "premeditated", as this would carry a more severe penalty.
Judge Papi Mosopa is due to deliver judgment on Monday morning.