Sammy Wilson laments lack of appeal over 'laughable' community service sentence for alleged UDA-linked coke dealer

The East Antrim MP was reacting to a term handed down to 39-year-old bodybuilder Chris Djorjani shortly before Christmas by Antrim Crown Court.

The Ballymena native, whose bail address during proceedings was in Dromara, was in a car in the Ballymena area in November 2021 when police moved in to search it.

He ran away across fields, but was caught and a police dog found a brick of cocaine, cut to a purity of about 55%.

He pleaded guilty to possession of a Class A drug with intent to supply.

An earlier court hearing was told "the police assessment is that he is part of a drugs crime gang linked to the South East Antrim UDA" (although his defence lawyer disputed this, and he was not charged with membership).

At the sentencing on January 22, the judge said cocaine "wreaks havoc on the lives of all that it touches," and Djorjani ought to have known the “misery” his package would cause, given he was once an addict.

The judge gave him credit for kicking his habit, and decided against jailing him.

The PPS was asked by the News Letter if it plans to appeal his community service sentence.

It responded: “While sentencing is a matter for the judiciary, the Director of Public Prosecutions does have the power to refer particular sentences to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that they may be unduly lenient.

"An unduly lenient sentence is one that falls outside the range of sentences that a judge, taking into consideration all relevant factors and having regard to sentencing guidance, could reasonably consider appropriate.

“We have given careful consideration to the sentence handed down in this case. It has been concluded that there is no legal basis to refer this sentence to the Court of Appeal.”

‘WHAT MESSAGE DOES THIS SEND OUT?’

Sammy Wilson said: "It's little wonder that people believe the law doesn't take seriously the drug problems in Northern Ireland.

"A brick of cocaine could probably produce hundreds of separate amounts of drugs to be sold to youngsters, and clearly if you've got that, you're a serious drug dealer.

"If you're a serious dealer, and you're linked to a criminal organisation, what kind of message does [a sentence like this] send out?"

He said that a penalty of community service is simply "laughable" as a deterrent.

Mr Wilson also indicated he finds it hard to believe that the PPS has no option but to accept the sentence in this case, given that other people caught in similar circumstances must surely have faced far harsher penalties.

Sammy Wilson has been highly-critical of the South East Antrim UDA, an especially-active splinter group of the mainstream UDA with known involvement in narcotics, whose power base lies within his constituency.

When it comes to the group's drug-dealing ties in general, he said: "Groups who deal in drugs in this way should not be given any kind of special consideration just because they put a loyalist name to their group and claim to have some vague political motivation."

He wondered how the UDA could claim to be "defending their communities" when they are importing so much "misery" into them in the form of drugs.

"People become addicted, get involved in crime, and bring misery on the community in which they live, breaking into houses, stealing stuff," he said, adding that it is typically the poorest neighbourhoods which suffer the most from such dealing.

Asked about the sentencing in this case, the Lady Chief Justice’s office, representing the judiciary, said: “The principle of judicial independence precludes this office from commenting on individual cases.”

It added: “The sentence imposed will depend on the specific circumstances in each case and a range of different factors will be considered.

"In calculating the appropriate sentence for a particular offence, the judge will consider all of the evidence provided to the court as well as the relevant statute and case law, including the maximum sentence which the court can impose, any sentencing guidelines relevant to the offence committed, whether the offender pleaded guilty, the level of culpability, the offender’s previous convictions, and any other aggravating or mitigating factors presented to the court by the prosecution and defence.

"The court may also take into account other evidence such as a victim impact statement, an expert medical report and a pre-sentence report (prepared by the Probation Service about the offender and making a recommendation on the most appropriate sentence, although it is important to note that the court does not have to accept the recommendation)."

More from this reporter:

DUP brother of UDA sectarian murder victim Gavin Brett breaks 20 year silence

VIDEO of emotional murder appeal: ‘Glenn was obviously ill – my heart is breaking – please help us’

Doggerel poetry graffiti threatening ‘war’ from loyalists is condemned