Cape Town – The cousin of suspected 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield is among 10 men who were arrested for smashing luxury cars at a dealership last month.
The accused have been sent to jail after their appearance in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Simon Stanfield, along with Jeffrey Pitolo, Keith September, Anzio Arnolds, Adiel Paul, Luke Pretorius, Kevin Kiddo, John Fernandez, Mogamat Stellenboom and Jonathan Petersen, are charged with two counts of attempted robbery and malicious damage to property for the incident at The Toy Shop in Milnerton.
The bizarre incident on 17 February saw a group of about 40 men enter the dealership and smash the windows of several sports cars with wrenches and mops.
The incident was captured on CCTV and the video footage went viral on social media.
A trader, who introduced himself under the false name Marc Jackson, said the owner of the dealership, Gregory Jackson, was not willing to speak to the media.
Marc said the men arrived in two Toyota Quantums and a bakkie, but claimed it was a botched robbery.
According to a police source the men, who are believed to be members of the 28s gang, were arrested by the Organised Crime Unit and taken to Maitland Police Station.
The police source says the group demanded two cars from the staff claiming the dealership was not under the protection of “the big boss of the Western Cape”.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa says the suspects were arrested in tracing operations executed over the weekend.
According to another source who spoke to the Daily Voice on condition of anonymity, Simon Stanfield from Valhalla Park is a cousin of Ralph.
“They are all 28s. Simon is the cousin of Ralph and is known as Klein Simon because there is an older uncle also called Simon. That Jeffrey guy is like Ralph’s right hand man.”
However, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila says they were only charged with attempted robbery and malicious damage to property, and not extortion or Prevention of Organised Crime Act.
“The case against the accused has been postponed to next Monday (8 March) for a bail application,” he said.
Daily Voice