DJ Djordy killers get up to 23 years in prison on appeal

The Amsterdam Court of Appeal sentenced three men to up to 22 years and 11 months in prison for the mistaken identity murder of DJ and party planner Djordy Latumahina in the Dutch capital in October 2016. The court condemned the "incomprehensible ruthlessness and unscrupulousness" of their actions, Het Parool reports.

Latumahina (31) was shot eight times with a submachine gun in a parking garage on Koningen Wilelminaplein in the presence of his girlfriend and their then 2-year-old daughter. He died at the scene. His girlfriend was seriously injured but survived the attack. She is still struggling with the physical consequences thereof. The toddler sustained no physical injuries. 

The authorities believe the shooters mistook the Latumahina for a drug trafficker who lived in the same building and also drove a black Mini Cooper. In 2018, four men were sentenced to 30, 26, 18, and 15 years in prison. Two of them appealed - the alleged shooter and another suspect. At the time court acquitted 38-year-old Tony D. from Wormer. The Public Prosecution Service (OM) appealed against that ruling.

The Court of Appeal sentenced Tony D. to 22 years and 11 months in prison, convicting him as the second gunman. The OM had demanded 23 years, but the court took into account time D. spent in pre-trial detention on another case, according to Parool. The court sentenced the other two suspects, 50-year-old Wendel R. and 48-year-old Ulrich B., to 20 years in prison, equal to the OM demand. 

"A happy young family has been destroyed. The victims didn't stand a chance," the court ruled on Friday. The suspects "had no care for human lives" and have shown no remorse. Three of them attended a birthday party that same evening, according to the newspaper.