Picture taken from News24: (Phill Magakoe, Gallo Images, file)

Convicted rapist Nicholas Ninow says he was 13 when he started using drugs and that he has been on anti-depression medication for most of his life.

He testified in mitigation of sentence in the Pretoria High Court today.

Ninow was found guilty of raping a seven-year-old girl in the toilet cubicle of a Dros restaurant in the capital last year.

Ninow says he remembers walking into the women’s bathroom of the restaurant to use drugs, but everything else is a blur.