Jailed drug kingpin Fadwaan “Vet” Murphy’s attempt to not serve out his 18-year prison sentence has been thwarted after his application for leave to appeal was denied in the Western Cape High Court.
Murphy made an application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence but the appeal was snubbed by the high court after he submitted that Judge Diane Davis “erred impermissibly drawing inferences from inferences and convicting on the strength of suspicion, conjecture and speculation”.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Murphy and his business, Ulterior Trading Solutions CC, were denied in their applications.
Facing 229 criminal charges in January, Murphy was jailed and his company fined R2 million after the State “successfully argued that his drug dealing came from his greed for money and power and that his actions destroyed communities and people living among them,” said Ntabazalila. In the same matter, Murphy’s ex-wife, Shafieka Murphy was jailed for 15 years.
“Immediately after Judge Davis delivered the sentencing judgment, Murphy and his ex-wife submitted a written notice of application for leave to appeal but the ex-wife abandoned her intentions. Last year the court convicted (Fadwaan) Murphy, 51, on a count of managing an enterprise conducted through a pattern of racketeering activity, a count of conducting or participating in the conduct of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, a count of receiving or retaining property derive from or through a pattern of racketing activity, 139 counts of attempt to deal in drugs, a count of dealing in drugs, 73 counts of money laundering,” said Ntabazalila.
On the sentences imposed on him and his company, Murphy argued they were “harsh” and “induced a sense of shock”.
Judge Davis described the lengthy trial as one with “dramatic twists and turns in the proceedings” that “rivalled a work of fiction”.
He had said during sentencing: “A perfect storm of deaths, a global pandemic, logistical difficulties with virtual hearings, and an ill-conceived approach on the part of the State to the subpoena application, all converged to delay the completion of the case for almost five years.”
Cape Times