Pretoria - The grandmother of convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow is expected to continue her testimony when proceedings resume on Thursday.
Pauline Gericke began testifying in mitigation of sentencing on Wednesday afternoon, painfully taking the court through Ninow's battle with drug addiction.
Gericke told the court it was only when he was high on drugs that Ninow became a completely different person.
She also used her testimony to apologise to the victim's family.
Wednesday also saw psychologist Marina Genis, a probation officer and Ninow himself take the stand.
Ninow, 21, kicked off proceedings, painting his battle with drug addiction before tearfully reading out a poem he wrote to his eight-year-old, seven at the time of the rape, victim.
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He also apologised to his grandmother and his young son, who was born while he was in prison.
Ninow blamed his actions on his drug addiction, even admitting he had continued to make use of drugs since his arrest for the rape of the girl in the female bathroom cubicle of the Dros restuarant in Silverton in 2018.