Love was in the air at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday, as alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield was reunited with his wife Nicole Johnson in the dock.
Despite facing a moerse klomp charges, firing their lawyer and having their two bail applications denied, nothing could stop the two love birds from staring into each other’s eyes after being held at different prisons since their arrests last year in October.
Wearing matching Under Armour tracksuits, Ralph was seen smiling at Nicole and heard saying: “You still look pretty”.
He also held her hand and kissed it as proceedings commenced.
Ralph is being held at Brandvlei Prison, while Nicole is being kept at Pollsmoor Prison.
The couple were arrested alongside Johannes “Bal” Abrahams, Denver Booysen and Jose Brand on various charges allegedly linked to a manhunt and attempted murder of a former employee of Ralph after he allegedly stole over R1 million from the couple.
During the explosive bail hearings held late last year it was revealed that the former employee, who is now a State witness, had not arrived at work on 24 November 2022 following 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 “witchhunt” and even threatened the father of the witness, klapped an unsuspecting neighbour and took the car without the vehicle owner’s permission.
During proceedings on Monday it was revealed that they had also fired their lawyer, Advocate Luzuko Guma, who represented them during bail hearings.
State prosecutor, Advocate Frank van Heerden, told the court that they would be joining the current case with a firearm charge currently faced by Ralph at the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court.
It is understood that on the day cops arrested Ralph and Nicole at their larney home in Constantia home, they found him in possession of a shotgun, and along with his bodyguard, they were charged separately from the Milnerton case.
The couple’s new lawyer, Frank Mashele, called on the court to postpone the case one more time saying the Anti-Gang Unit (AGU) had resources to speed up ballistic tests.
Magistrate Atta Theart postponed the case to 28 March but said it was not a final postponement.
She added that while this was a high profile case everyone is equal before the law.