One murder, two court cases: chaos at Cape Town court

The murder of Alison Dewar has resulted in two cases being tried separately in the Cape Town Magistrates Court. Archive photo: Ashraf Hendricks

• Retired teacher Alison Dewar was kidnapped and murdered in October 2024. Her car was stolen and sold to a second-hand car salesman.
• Five people face charges related to the crime. But while four have been charged for her kidnapping and murder, and for stealing the car, a fifth person has been charged with car theft in a separate case.
• The state indicated in November that the two cases would be merged, but this has not happened.
• There appears to be no communication between the teams responsible for investigating and prosecuting the two cases.

The brutal kidnapping and murder of a retired teacher has caused confusion at the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court.

On 27 October 2024, Alison Dewar’s body was found, stabbed to death, outside Philadelphia.

Five people are facing charges related to the crime. But they are being tried in two separate cases, by different prosecutors, and investigated by different police units. There appears to be no communication between the teams.

GroundUp has established that the current prosecutors in each case were unaware of the other case.

Four people are charged with kidnapping, murder, theft of the victim’s car, and defeating the ends of justice. But a fifth person has been charged with theft in a separate case. In November 2024, the state told the court it wanted to merge the two cases. But nine months later, this has not happened, and both cases have continued in parallel, and the merging of the cases has not been mentioned again.

The police investigations have been beset by delays and inefficiencies, including delays in obtaining a postmortem report. The investigating officer in the murder case was reassigned to a less senior sergeant, with no explanation provided. In the car theft case, the accused appeared in court twice before an investigating officer was finally assigned and a docket was produced.

Both cases have been postponed several times and will need to proceed to trial soon or risk being struck off.

Dewar was a retired teacher who volunteered as a maths tutor at Rainbow of Hope, a non-profit organisation. A teacher at the organisation who worked with her, Shayner-Lee Wiese, told GroundUp she has little confidence in the state.

“This case is being handled as if it’s not serious,” said Wiese, who has been attending the court hearings.

“Alison was someone who was committed to helping and caring for children. Does her death mean nothing?”

Murdered for R5,000

Four days after her body was found, the police recovered Dewar’s vehicle, a red 2024 Hyundai Creta, from the house of second-hand car salesman Obina Ugwuoke, who was arrested.

Police then arrested Chukwudi Stanley and Isaac Okeowo, who were allegedly involved in stealing the car and selling it to Ugwuoke. Another person was also arrested, but charges against him were later withdrawn.

A couple from Bellville, Marlon and Riani Macalagh, was also arrested.

It is alleged that Dewar was murdered by the Macalaghs, who sold her car to a man called CJ for R3,000 in cash plus R2,000 worth of drugs. CJ is alleged to have sold the car to Ugwuoke for R20,000. Stanley apparently acted as a middleman for CJ, and Okeowo negotiated the price on behalf of Ugwuoke.

CJ is said to have fled to Johannesburg and is still at large. It is unclear whether any attempts have been made to arrest him.

First court appearance

On 4 November 2024, the suspects appeared in court for the first time.

Five of the accused – Stanley, Okeowo, the Macalaghs and the fifth man against whom charges were later withdrawn – were taken to the Atlantis Magistrates’ Court. This was because the murder case was opened at the Philadelphia police station, which falls under Atlantis. They were charged with kidnapping, murder, theft and defeating the ends of justice.

The court ruled that the case should be transferred to the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court because the investigation was being led by the provincial Serious and Violent Crimes unit based in Cape Town.

Meanwhile, Ugwuoke was enrolled in a separate case from the other accused, and he was taken to the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court, where he was charged with theft of the car. It emerged in court that no investigating officer had been assigned to the case. It was only at his third court appearance that an investigating officer was assigned, and the docket was finally disclosed to the court.

Neither the SAPS nor the NPA answered questions from GroundUp on why there were two separate cases for the same crime.

Chaos in the court

Both cases appeared before Magistrate Theart in the Cape Town Magistrates’ (District) Court on 11 November.

When Ugwuoke appeared in court, prosecutor Oliver Bulana told the court that his case would be added to the main murder case with the other suspects (but nine months later, this has not happened). There was still no docket, and no investigating officer had been assigned.

Nonetheless, the court proceeded with bail proceedings, and Ugwuoke was released on bail for R10,000.

When the five accused in the murder case appeared later in the day, chaos ensued. The prosecutor told the court he was not sure what the next steps were in the case and that he would have to take instructions from a senior prosecutor. Senior prosecutor Johan Swart then came to address the court.

It emerged that the magistrate in Atlantis had used the wrong forms to transfer the case to the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court – the forms said the matter was transferred to the regional court rather than the district court. So Magistrate Theart adjourned the matter, saying that the case could not appear before her in the district court.

Late in the afternoon, the matter appeared in the Cape Town Regional Court before Magistrate Amori Graf, and the case was postponed.

Two court appearances later, a bail hearing was held on 28 November, by which time charges against the fifth accused had been withdrawn. The Macalaghs decided not to apply for bail, but Stanley and Okeowo did apply, and they were released on R5,000 bail each.

After the bail hearing, the senior investigating officer was reassigned and replaced by a junior colleague – a sergeant at the serious and violent crimes unit.

Several postponements

In the following months, there was a series of postponements in both cases.

In the Ugwuoke car theft case, the matter was postponed five times between January and August this year. In March, the state said they were waiting for cellphone records to be analysed, and in June, the state said further evidence had to be obtained because there was a USB drive that had become corrupted.

At the most recent court appearance, on 14 July, the trial was set down to begin in the regional court on 28 August.

In the murder, kidnapping and theft case where the other four stand accused, the matter was postponed four times between February and August.

In April, the prosecutor told the court that they were still waiting for the postmortem report, about six months after the murder.

Marlon Macalagh also applied for a bed at Valkenburg Psychiatric Hospital to be assessed to determine if he is mentally fit to stand trial. On 22 July, he was still on the waiting list. Only after his medical report is received will the trial be able to go ahead.

This reporter asked the prosecutors in each case if they were aware of the other case. Both answered no.

Neither the NPA nor SAPS responded to GroundUp’s questions.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast