Pauline Duddy proud as ‘Jasmin’s Law’ motion moved in daughter’s memory
The name of Jasmin Duddy was heard again and again at Stormont as MLAs unanimously backed a campaign for tougher sentences for drug dealers this week.
Jasmin’s mother Pauline was listening in the public gallery.
"I got really emotional,” she said. “I'd never experienced anything like that in my life and I'll take it with me until the day that I die. It filled me full of pride. I miss her. I miss her every single second of every single day.”
The inspirational Derry woman has been the driving force of a campaign for ‘Jasmin’s Law’, proposed legislation for harsher sentences for drug dealers.
Her daughter Jasmin was only 21 when she passed away after a battle with addiction three years ago.
The mother-of-one died after consuming a mixture of pregabalin and bromazepam on February 2, 2023.
Since then Pauline has been demanding action from the Department of Justice.
On Tuesday a motion tabled by SDLP MLA Mark H. Durkan, calling for ‘Jasmin’s Law’ to be implemented was backed unanimously.
Mr. Durkan said: “The call for ‘Jasmin's Law’ has emerged from personal tragedy and from the determination of one woman — Pauline Duddy — to ensure that no other family endures the same loss and pain. Pauline is a formidable and ferocious campaigner.
"She has shown extraordinary courage in turning personal grief into public advocacy following the loss of her daughter Jasmin in 2023. Pauline has given a voice to families who often feel voiceless in the face of such huge loss, and her campaign is a stark reminder that what we are discussing today is real lives, real tragedies and the need for real action.”
There was cross-partisan support for the campaign that includes calls for the supply of drugs to a vulnerable person to be considered an aggravating factor when it causes injury or death.
Sinn Féin MLA Emma Sheerin said: "I have not met Pauline personally, but my colleague Ciara Ferguson relayed to me at the end of last week the sheer volume of work that Pauline has done in honour of her daughter, Jasmin. Pauline, it is commendable that you have managed to turn that pain into something that is positive for other people and that you are trying to help other young people in Jasmin's situation, so that other families do not have to suffer what you suffered.”
DUP MLA Paul Frew, Chair of the Justice Committee, said Pauline had done a ‘tremendous amount of work’ in memory of her beloved daughter.
"I can only imagine what it is like to lose a daughter, but for Pauline to use that grief and campaign tirelessly to make life better for other families whose loved ones could suffer the same fate as Jasmin is admirable,” he said.
Andrew Muir, responding on behalf of Naomi Long, said: “The Justice Minister has asked me to commend Pauline Duddy, Jasmin's mother, for her dedication and tireless campaigning on the issue. Minister Long has met Pauline on several occasions and is continually impressed by her tenacious advocacy for victims of drug dealer.”
He said that based ‘on the strength of the ‘Jasmin’s Law’ campaign, Minister Long's review of sentencing policy will consider current sentencing practice in NI in relation to drugs misuse offences’.
Speaking to the ‘Journal’ on Thursday Pauline said ‘if this law can save one person then we have got a win’ but it needs to happen now.
"If a deterrent is put in place for these drug dealers, if one dealer gets a tough sentence they are going to think, well hang on. They are living along the lines now that the profit’s high and the risk is low and the risk is very low at the minute,” she said.
Pauline feels the pain of Jasmin’s loss every day.
"I hate waking up in the morning. I really hate wakening up every day and it is this campaign that has kept me going otherwise I don't know where I would be today. Jasmin was my baby. She was my youngest,” she confided.