Cape Town - Alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield has been let off the hook after the State dropped all charges against him.
His instructing attorney Noorudien Hassan said on Monday: “They never had anything on him.”
Stanfield, his wife Nicole, his sister Francesca, and three police - Lieutenant Billy April and police clerks Priscilla Mangayne and Mary-Gail Cartwright - were acquitted of a string of charges relating to fraud, corruption, possession of unlicensed firearms and contravention of the Firearms Act.
The group appeared in the Khayelitsha Priority Crimes court on Monday morning where they maintained their innocence.
Stanfield and his co-accused were arrested in 2014 by the police’s then gang-busting unit, Operation Combat.
Cops swooped on Stanfield’s Milnerton home as well as houses in Blue Downs and Mitchells Plain.
The three police officials were busted at the Pretoria offices of SAPS Central after a raid.
Stanfield is the nephew of Colin Stanfield, who died of cancer in 2004.
He is also the cousin of convicted 28s gang boss in Valhalla Park, Saliem John.
More than two years after his arrest, the defence said they have still not seen the charge sheet.
Hassan said they were happy with the court’s decision to “drop the charges”.
“The matter has been on the roll for two years and four months and the State is still not ready,” he said.
“They still don’t have the authorisation for centralisation ready, they also don’t have the POCA [Prevention of Organised Crime Act] authorisation ready.”
But National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said it’s too soon for Stanfield to celebrate.
“Charges against the accused were provisionally withdrawn as the State is not in a position to provide the defence with a charge sheet,” he said.
“The charges are going to be reinstated against the accused and the matter will be placed on the roll again.”
Stanfield is expected back in court this week on separate charges of assault and intimidation, and Hassan is confident his client will be a free man soon.
“We are hoping for the same [outcome] when he appears in Mitchells Plain [Magistrate’s Court]. He did nothing,” he said.
Daily Voice