Nicole Johnson, the wife of alleged 28s gang boss, Ralph Stanfield, will stay in the mang after the Western Cape High dismissed her bail appeal and called her a liar.
In a scathing judgement handed down by Judge Hayley Slingers on Monday, various aspects of the claims made by Johnson in her failed bail applications were raised.
Johnson and Stanfield were busted at their larney Constantia home late last year by the Anti-Gang Unit amid an investigation into a botched hit on a former employee of theirs.
The notorious duo appeared alongside Johannes “Bal” Abrahams, Denver Booysen and Jose Brand at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on charges linked to a manhunt of the employee, who was accused of stealing over R1 million from the couple.
The man, who is now a state witness, had not arrived at work on 24 November 2022 after he received a tip-off that Stanfield had planned to “kill him”.
According to the state’s case, Ralph and Nicole embarked on a “witchhunt” and took his girlfriend’s BMW without her permission.
Johnson’s bail was initially denied and in her second application, she said her teen daughter had health issues.
But her application was dealt a blow when the state played an audio recording from Tracker, showing that she had allegedly committed fraud when she claimed she had the BMW owner’s permission to call Tracker.
Judge Slingers said: “The evidence shows that Johnson resented the employee who stole from her and felt that she was entitled to - in her words - do what she had to do, which evidently included taking the law into her own hands.”
Slingers also highlighted Johnson’s failure to reveal that she gets a R70 000 income from the Ayepyep Nightclub during her bail hearings, when she told the court that she had a monthly income of R97 000.
The judge also highlighted Johnson’s plans to obtain residency in Dubai as a reason why she would evade her trial and said as a law student, she was not a lay person who was ignorant of the law.
In denying the appeal, the Judge said should Johnson be released, the court is of the view that she would attempt to influence or intimidate witnesses and destroy evidence.
“She does not hesitate to lie and give false evidence if she thinks it will benefit her. Such a person does not respect the legal system and would not hesitate to undermine the criminal justice system.”