Durban - Social media was ablaze after convicted child rapist Nicholas Ninow was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday.
Despite pleading with the court for leniency, Ninow was given the maximum sentence in the high court in Pretoria for raping a seven-year-old in the toilet of a Dros restaurant.
Judge Papi Mosopa also sentenced Ninow to five years behind bars for defeating the ends of justice and another five years for possession of an illegal substance. All sentences will run concurrently.
Masopa issued an order that Ninow's details be recorded in the sex offenders' register and that he not be employed in an environment where there are children.
During testimony in mitigation of sentence this week, Ninow conceded that he knew what he was doing was wrong when he raped the then 7-year-old girl in a toilet at the Dros restaurant in Silverton last September.
He blamed a drug binge he was on at the time for leading him to attack the little girl.
The 21-year old admitted that he had no justification for the rape, possession of illegal substances and defeating the ends of justice.
He did, however, plead not guilty to allegedly assaulting the mother of the girl and a Dros employees on the scene.
During arguments in mitigation of sentencing the court heard that Nino would attempt to commit suicide if sentenced to life imprisonment. He told the court he was remorseful and read out a poem for he wrote to his victim and her family.
But Twitter did not buy his apology and applauded the heavy sentence meted out to him.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/DrosRapist?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DrosRapist #NicolasNinow #StopRape
— Cuma Majikija (@SenzwaJiks25)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NicolasNinow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NicolasNinow
— S'thenjiwe Zwane (@Com89Sth)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NicolasNinow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NicolasNinow pic.twitter.com/WLzb0ri4qv
— StadiVandal🇿🇦 (@StadiVandal)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NicolasNinow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NicolasNinow
I hope with all my heart that all that can be done will be done to help the child who he made suffer.
— Nick Hamman (@Nick_Hamman)
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/NicolasNinow?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NicolasNinow pic.twitter.com/cg1SQ1VJHt
— Mega (@ExtraWork101)