Man On The Run In Australia For Nearly 30 Years Hands Himself In

A man who has been on the run in Australia for nearly 30 years has handed himself in after becoming homeless.

Darko Desic became a fugitive at the beginning of August in 1992 when he broke out of the Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales.

He was a little more than a year into a three-and-a-half year sentence after being convicted of cannabis cultivation when he went on the run.

Desic managed to get hold of a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters, which he used for the daring escape nearly three decades ago.

According to News Corp, he wanted to break out of prison because he was worried he would be deported back to his native Yugoslavia once his sentence at Grafton finished.

If that ended up happening, he was sure he would be prosecuted for leaving Yugoslavia without doing the then-country's mandatory military service.

But, his great escape seemed to go according to plan. Three decades went by without so much as a peep from Desic and authorities couldn't find a trace of him.

The Daily Telegraph reports the 64-year-old worked odd jobs as a labourer and earned money cash-in-hand on Sydney's northern beaches.

He was making an honest living and kept a low profile, however he was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

When Covid-19 made its way to Australia early last year and all those odd jobs he used to keep him afloat dried up, he ended up becoming homeless.

A police source told News Corp: "He's been completely law abiding, never come under attention, never been spoken to.

"He told us he never caused anyone any trouble so no one ever looked at him twice.

"But COVID stopped all the cash work, he's become homeless over the past couple of weeks and he slept on the beach on Saturday night and said 'stuff it, I'll go back to prison where there's a roof over my head'."

Imagine getting by for nearly three decades after a daring prison escape and then the plan comes to a crashing halt because of a pandemic.

On 12 September 2021, he handed himself into police and explained what he had done.

He was charged with escape prisoner from lawful custody and has since been formally refused bail. Desic will face court again later this month.

Featured Image Credit: NSW Police

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie