Man jailed after fatally injuring businessman in 2006 Southampton assault

A 41-year-old man has been sentenced after causing fatal injuries to his boss in Southampton in 2006.

Arjan Balla, of Godstone Road in Whyteleafe, Surrey, appeared at Southampton Crown Court today (Monday 10 June) where he was sentenced to 12 months in prison for his involvement in the death of Anastassios Delis from London.

The court was told how on November 20 2006, days after Balla had lost his job as a steel erector, he assaulted Anastassios on Queensway in Southampton, punching him a number of times and causing him to fall to the ground and hit his head.

Anastassios was taken to hospital for treatment and Balla was charged with Section 20 grievous bodily harm and sentenced to three years in prison in 2007.

Sadly, Anastassios never regained consciousness following the assault, which left him with a severe head injury, and he passed away on December 12 2017 aged 68. An examination carried out by pathologists revealed that his death was the direct result of the injuries he sustained in 2006.

Further enquiries were launched following Anastassios’s death and the case was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for review, before being forwarded on to the Attorney General’s office for consideration.

Authorisation was given by the Attorney General’s office in 2019 to charge Balla with manslaughter, leading officers from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary to launch enquiries in order to locate him. Following years of complex work alongside the Crown Prosecution Service, the National Crime Agency, Interpol and the Albanian authorities, it was found that he had been using the false name of Tahir Karaj and was living in Albania, having been deported there following his initial sentence in 2007.

Once his true identity was known by police, they received intelligence that Balla was due to fly into the UK on January 26^th 2024, officers arrested him at Stansted Airport and he was subsequently charged with manslaughter.

His fingerprints and DNA were found to match that of the man known as Tahir Karaj, previously convicted of GBH in connection with the assault on Anastassios.

Balla was charged with manslaughter and pleaded guilty to the offence.

Police Staff Investigator Gary Sumner, who led the manslaughter investigation following the death of Anastassios, said: “The circumstances of this case are highly unusual and extremely sad, and we are thankful that the family and loved ones of Anastassios Delis now have justice, seven years after his death and 18 years after his assault.

“Initial enquiries following the victim’s death were hampered by the fact that Balla had been under a false identity in the UK, even throughout the initial GBH criminal investigation and his imprisonment. That meant that initial efforts to locate him under the name Tahir Karaj were unsuccessful, causing us complex difficulties throughout the investigation.

“Following our own enquiries, alongside the support of the National Crime Agency, we were eventually able to determine that Karaj was in fact named Arjan Balla and he was arrested and charged swiftly after that.

 

“We are pleased that Balla will now face the consequences of taking another man’s life in such a senseless and violent assault, and hope that this sentence today demonstrates that we are committed to securing justice for the victims of such horrendous crimes, no matter how much time has passed.”