Liegstories allegedly told by Nicole Johnson, came under scrutiny at the Western Cape High Court on Thursday amid a third attempt at freedom.
The wife of alleged 28s gang boss, Ralph Stanfield, was not present at court amid her bail appeal, as legal teams went head to head arguing both for and against her release.
The notorious duo were arrested alongside Johannes “Bal” Abrahams, Denver Booysen and Jose Brandt last year on various charges linked to an alleged manhunt and attempted murder of a former employee.
During the bail hearings it was revealed that the former employee had allegedly stolen over R1 million from the couple.
The man, who is now a state witness, had not arrived at work on 24 November 2022 amid a tip-off that Ralph had planned to “kill him”.
The witness then hid his girlfriend’s BMW in a complex in Milnerton and went into hiding.
According to the state’s case, Ralph and Nicole embarked on a “witch hunt” and even threatened the father of the witness, klapped an unsuspecting neighbour and took the car without the vehicle owner’s permission.
The couple were denied bail by Magistrate Atta Theart and subsequently brought another application based on new facts but was plunged into more legal woes as the state unveiled evidence of Johnon’s alleged fraudulent activities, with the state playing an audio recording made by the BMW’s tracking company.
During proceedings on Thursday Johnson’s lawyer, Advocate Laurance Hodes, said the Magistrate had exhibited a clear bias and made rulings despite certain elements of Johnson’s application not being in dispute.
However Judge Hayley Slingers, said she noted Johnson had changed her stories. In the first bail application she stated she was never present during the tracking of the car but in the second application she claimed she called Tracker with the vehicle owner's permission.
“It was deception,” the judge said.