The alleged leader of the 28s gang and his wife, awaiting trial on vehicle theft charges, face custody issues related to their minor children.
Ralph Stanfield, 44, and Nicole Johnson, 36, were arrested at their upmarket Constantia, Cape Town, home on Friday evening. The couple and two accomplices allegedly stole a BMW worth more than R326 000 and a mobile phone. The state also intends to charge them with intimidation and extortion related to the incident.
All four suspects were remanded in custody and are set to apply for bail on Monday.
Western Cape police spokesperson Col Andrè Traut said this was the culmination of an investigation into the theft of a car in Milnerton in 2022, also involving alleged common assault and fraud.
“Members attached to the anti-gang unit confronted the suspects at their Constantia residence and upon a body search, the male was found to be in possession of an unlicensed firearm for which he was also charged,” said Traut.
Stanfield, Johnson, Johannes Abrahams, 48, and Denver Booysen, 43, were hauled before the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Monday. According to the charge sheet, all four face charges of motor vehicle theft, with more charges still to come.
We commend the police for bringing to book an individual who has been a subject of numerous police investigations around other crimes that too have brought fear and violence to the people of this province.
— Police minister Bheki Cele
They allegedly stole a BMW worth R326,202 from Palm Springs security complex in Milnerton on November 24. The details of the owner were “not disclosed” for “safety” reasons. Stanfield, Abrahams and Booysen face a count of robbery each for allegedly assaulting the owner of the vehicle and taking the victim’s cellphone worth R1,225. Stanfield and Johnson also face charges of fraud for allegedly misleading a police officer into believing that the BMW belonged to them.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said: “The state intends to add more charges, including intimidation and extortion.”
“Stanfield’s wife has been referred to the hospital section of Pollsmoor prison as she had surgery last Thursday before her arrest on Friday,” said Ntabazalila.
Stanfield’s arrest warranted a mention on Tuesday from police minister Bheki Cele at a press conference to address crime-related matters, including the recent escalation of violent crime in the Western Cape. “We commend the police for bringing to book an individual who has been a subject of numerous police investigations around other crimes that too have brought fear and violence to the people of this province,” Cele said. “To such an extent that potential witnesses were forced into exile due to threats and intimidation.
“The case is in line with our stance to squeeze the space on organised crime in South Africa,” he said.
“The state has been ordered to organise a social worker who will check the wellbeing of the couple’s two children aged 15 and 17 years. The state, working with social workers, is expected to help find suitable relatives who will look after the wellbeing of the children.”
The couple are no strangers to controversy. Stanfield faces 84 charges related to a gun-licensing racket allegedly aided by corrupt police officials at the central firearm registry in Pretoria. The matter is pending before the Khayelitsha priority crimes court in Cape Town.
Stanfield is charged alongside his wife, his sister Francesca and 16 others, including a former police officer and administrative clerks. They face a raft of charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, as well as charges of corruption, fraud, contravention of the Firearms Control Act, forgery, illegal possession of ammunition and firearms and defeating the ends of justice.
Cape Town councillor Malusi Booi was fired from his human settlements mayoral committee position for alleged links to Stanfield after the police’s commercial crimes investigation unit raided Booi’s office and seized computers and electronic devices.
The Sunday Times reported at the time that the unit said it wanted to search for various names, including alleged 28s gang leader Stanfield, a company called Glomix belonging to Stanfield’s wife, alleged Sexy Boys gang leader Jerome “Donkie” Booysen and at least one large civil engineering company. However, Booi is yet to be criminally charged.
Another Stanfield-related incident involving the Ayepyep Lounge Cape Town, was settled in the Cape Town high court last month after one of the club’s founders, Kagiso Setsetse, publicly accused Stanfield of extortion. As part of the settlement, which was made an order of the court, Setsetse sold his shares to the estate of his murdered co-founder DJ Sumbody, who was shot and killed in Centurion, Gauteng, in November 2022, and Barbara Charlotte Johnson, who is linked to Stanfield and his wife.
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