Barbara Maregele
A gang leader was convicted by the Western Cape High Court yesterday on a string of charges including three murders committed seven years ago.
Saliem John and six co-accused members of the 28s gang faced six counts of murder and charges under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act for gang-related incidents in Valhalla Park.
They were arrested last year during “Operation Combat” – the Western Cape police’s drive to eradicate drug and gang activities.
John’s co-accused are Andrew Petersen, Jimmy Kemp, Rodney Matinise, Anthony Bestman, Thomas van Wyk and Nicky Kruger. Together they faced 28 counts including murder, dealing in drugs, malicious damage to property, attempted murder, illegal gang activity and the possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
John is the nephew of ganglord Colin Stanfield, who gained notoriety in Valhalla Park before he died from cancer in 2004.
Yesterday, John was convicted for the murders of Elfonso Maritz, Randall Rutgers and Ronald Levy, all in 2007, and the attempted murder of Eden Smith in 2008.
In addition, he was found guilty of participating in or being a member of a criminal gang and of having wilfully aided and abetted criminal activities.
John was also convicted on four other counts including possession of an unlicensed firearm and malicious damage to property.
Judge Lee Bozalek found all the men guilty of participating in a criminal gang, with the exception of Van Wyk, who was acquitted on all charges and was released after proceedings.
“State witness Nico Weaver testified that the accused were leading members of the 28s gang in Valhalla Park. However, not all of the accused had tattooed markings of the gang. As Weaver was also part of the group, I’m satisfied that all accused identified by Weaver were members of the gang,” the judge said.
Bozalek postponed the matter until March 24 for the State to compile victim impact and probation officer reports before sentencing.
Outside court, police Major-General Jeremy Vearey applauded the convictions as a “significant breakdown” of the 28s gang’s leadership structures in the area.
“We were able to get these guys after the fractional conflict between family which lead to a split in the gang. We looked beyond that and went straight for the strongholds. We are finally building very strong cases. During the investigation of this case, we discovered that there are 15- and 16-year-olds who are also members of the 28s gang,” he said.
Vearey criticised “people who establish peace treaties with gangsters”, saying it gave them a platform as leaders in the community when gang activity was a criminal offence.
“This case showed the community’s upstanding confidence in the police. Members of the community came forward freely to testify in cases that happened in 2006,” he said.
John’s father, Simon Stanfield, along with a group of relatives, gathered on the steps outside court.
“My son… has never been in court before, but he hated corrupt police. This entire case is one-sided. The police need to consult the people of Valhalla Park to know what’s really going on,” he said.