His gender might be confusing; he answers to Fadwaan, "Vet" or Hilary.
Call him what you want, the state is convinced it has netted a kingpin who has amassed huge wealth by flooding Cape Town with drugs through a sophisticated operation which even employed a tik "tester" for quality assurance.
Fadwaan Murphy, as he is referred to in court documents, is alleged to have pocketed R53.6-million in less than a year. The 45-year-old now has a fight on his hands to hold onto property seized by the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and to fend off the taxman.
A number of his homes, a fleet of luxury cars and a superbike have been confiscated. He faces more than 230 criminal charges in the Khayelitsha Regional Court, ranging from money laundering to dealing in "undesirable dependency-producing substances" and racketeering.
Gang leader
Police described the burly figure as "a well-known self-proclaimed gang leader". But Murphy says he is a hermaphrodite named Hilary.
Murphy declared under oath in 2010 that he was born with testes and a vagina. This was allegedly after a "strap-on" penis fell off while he was being searched during a police raid at his home.
Murphy, who has been married twice, told the Sunday Times at the time: "I am what I am through the creation of God. I stand firm as a man, as a husband and as a father."
He told the Blue Downs Magistrate's Court, where he was charged with possession of stolen property and corruption, that in his teens he underwent a series of operations at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town to correct his sex. Following this he was issued with a male identity document.
The prosecution said there was a fraud investigation of Murphy's two ID books — one describing him as Hilary Murphy, the other as Fadwaan.
"My kids ... come from my testes," he said. "I never developed breasts. I look like a man, I talk like a man. I am a man."He has been charged alongside his ex-wife Shafieka, his sister Glenda Bird, Dominic Davidson and Leon Paulsen. His company, Ulterior Trading Solutions, will also be charged during his next court appearance in August. Two self-confessed drug packers have turned state witness and told how Murphy allegedly used the company to pay his peddlers.
According to AFU investigator Ricardo Rhoda, Murphy packed 12kg of tik weekly and made more than R53.6-million between November 2014 and September 2015.
'Tester'
In an affidavit, Rhoda said Murphy employed a "tester" — known only as Graham — to smoke the tik to determine its quality.
Rhoda said Murphy bought three homes in Strand, Parklands and Worcester, and 14 cars, including two BMW X5s. He failed to declare any income to the South African Revenue Service.
Police confiscated drugs and money worth about R4-million from a house in Grassy Park linked to Murphy.
Paulsen told the police that Murphy had paid him R300 a week to keep money from drug sales in his Mitchells Plain home.
"Every day when I return from work, one of Glenda's children ... will bring me packets of money which I place in the safe," he said in his affidavit.
"They usually bring me money every hour until I go to sleep. Every three to four days one of Glenda's children, or Gav, who is a man that works for Glenda and Fadwaan, will come to my house and fetch all the money.
"They will pack the money themselves into a black sports bag. Thereafter the cycle starts again."
Murphy has been under police scrutiny since 2014. His assets, and those of his co-accused, were seized last year.
Hanif Loonat, an anti-crime activist and former chairman of the Western Cape Community Policing Forum, claims to know Murphy well. "He was a woman that became a man and has been in the underworld controlling a certain turf and making millions at the expense of our challenged youth. I have had neighbours complaining to me for the last seven years. Through our good investigators, we put a case together against him which is now in court."
Loonat said Murphy's alleged drug empire could not have grown if the community had not protected him. "The same communities that are complaining about drug merchants are protecting the very same people because they put bread and butter on their tables. They pay their rent, lights and water. So who are they going to vote for? Obviously the one who is delivering, and gangsters are delivering where the government does not deliver."..