Alleged drug kingpin, Fadwaan “Vet” Murphy, and his sister Glenda Bird have lost their battle with cops to keep a car they acquired unlawfully during a “R40 000 drug debt deal”.
A year ago, Bird obtained a court order against two police officers, including Detective Sergeant Nadine Britz, to keep the ill-gotten larney 4x4, saying cops were wrong to confiscate it.
But that order fell through this week when a Cape Town High Court judge ruled that Bird give the vehicle, a Hyundai Tucson, back to the owner, Liz du Toit.
The car was reported stolen last year, and investigations led Britz to Bird’s home in Turksvy Street, Lentegeur, in October, where she seized it.
Bird went to the police station the next day, armed with fraudulent papers claiming she had made an agreement with the previous owner, one Safwaan Parkin, who owed her R40 000.
Bird claimed Parkin gave her his car “as security”, and if he failed to pay his debt, she was entitled to take the car.
She showed cops a copy of a certificate of registration of the vehicle on her name.
But Britz believed there was more to this shady deal.
Court papers read: “(Du Toit) is familiar with the applicant and her brother, Fadwaan Murphy, they live near each other.
“Murphy is suspected of being a supplier of the prohibited drug known as tik in the area.”
Britz had a breakthrough when Parkin admitted he owed Murphy “drug money” and that he borrowed Du Toit’s vehicle as “temporary payment”.
Parkin had been living with Liz and her husband Ben du Toit, who owns Hout Bay HAP/ADS, an advertising magazine.
The Du Toit’s told Britz they opened a case of theft when Parkin failed to return the car, but police had closed the case.
The couple confirmed they had loaned Parkin the car, but said they didn’t know what he wanted it for.
On Monday, Judge E Steyn ruled that Bird based her claims on fraudulent documentation.
The vehicle is to be returned to the Du Toit’s this week, while Bird must pay costs, amounting to more than R70 000.
Murphy, 43, and Bird, 46, are out on bail after they were nabbed earlier this year on charges of money laundering and drug dealing.
They are to appear at the Khayelitsha Priority Crime Court on September 29.