Former Hells Angels bikie gets four more years in jail after Supreme Court appeal

A FORMER Hells Angels bikie and convicted killer will spend four more years in prison over drug trafficking and blackmail, following a prosecution appeal to the Supreme Court.

A FORMER Hells Angels bikie and convicted killer will spend four more years in prison following a prosecution appeal to the South Australian Supreme Court.

A full sitting of five Supreme Court judges handed down the ruling in the Court of Criminal Appeal on Thursday to Graham Daniel Young, 41, who appeared via video link from Mount Gambier Prison.

Between November and December 2014, Young trafficked 7.5g of cocaine, 2.8g of methylamphetamine, 36.3g of MDMA and six tablets containing MDMA.

Young was also charged with blackmail after he demanded $2000 “compensation” from a man who made lewd comments to his girlfriend.

The victim paid the money to Young after receiving threatening messages but had the money returned to him after the accused was arrested.

He also pleaded guilty to obstructing justice when he was recorded prompting an associate to go to a Mount Gambier residence and remove evidence before the police could search the property.

Police arrived first and salvaged the security camera footage of an unrelated robbery.

After his arrest in December 2014, Young pleaded guilty to all charges in October 2015 and was later sentenced by District Court Judge Sydney Tilmouth to three years jail.

The court had heard Young had kicked a substantial drug habit while in custody and had severed ties with former associates in the Hells Angels Motorcycle Gang, of which he allegedly became a patched member in January 2014.

Judge Tilmouth acknowledged the seriousness of the offences but said Young had good rehabilitation prospects and an extensive family support network within the community.

He imposed a non-parole period of 18 months.

The Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber appealed the sentence early this year, saying there had to be a correction of “sentences so disproportionate to the seriousness of the crime as to require intervention to maintain standards of penalty”.

On Thursday, Supreme Court Chief Justice Chris Kourakis handed down the decision of the full court, agreeing Judge Tilmouth’s sentence should be set aside and Young re-sentenced.

Chief Justice Kourakis instructed Young would be sentenced to a cumulative seven years and two months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years.

Chief Justice Kourakis said the sentencing of drug trafficking offences had to show continuity of scale.

Justices Tim Stanley and Ann Vanstone agreed with the decision, while justices Malcolm Blue and Sam Doyle proposed a marginally shorter sentence which was overruled by the other three members of the court.

The sentence will be backdated to Young’s arrest in December 2014, making him eligible for parole near the end of 2018.

Young was sentenced to an additional six months imprisonment earlier this year for assaulting a fellow inmate at the Mount Gambier Prison after the victim made insulting comments about Young’s partner.

In April 1999, Young got into a fight with a patron outside a Mount Gambier hotel, punching him several times to the head.

The man later died of his injuries and Young pleaded guilty to manslaughter, receiving a five-year sentence with a non-parole period of two years and 10 months.