Darko ‘Dougie’ Desic: Northern beaches gets behind jail escapee 30 years on the run

Darko “Dougie” Desic has been living in the shadows on the northern beaches since escaping jail 30 years ago. Now locals want to help the kind-hearted stonemason rebuild his life.

A community campaign has begun on the northern beaches to fund a legal bid to have kind-hearted jail escapee Darko “Dougie” Desic released from custody by the courts.

Led by Avalon resident and retired business entrepreneur Peter Higgins, the push is also on to eventually find a home and full-time job for Mr Desic, 64, who escaped from Grafton jail close to 30 years ago.

Mr Higgins, a co-founder of home loan brokerage firm Mortgage Choice, has already organised a solicitor to visit Mr Desic in custody to offer legal advice. He’s now calling on others to chip in.

Darko “Dougie” Desic has been working as a skilled stonemason on the northern beaches. Picture: Supplied

Since he managed to cut his way out of the prison on the NSW north coast in 1992, Mr Desic had been living under the radar in and around Avalon Beach, calling himself ‘Dougie’ and working mostly as a skilled stonemason, getting paid cash-in-hand.

Mr Desic, whose work dried up due to Covid restrictions, leaving him without money to pay rent, had been forced to sleep rough on Avalon Beach. On Sunday he handed himself in at Dee Why Police Station and was charged with escaping from lawful custody — a sentence that can carry seven years in jail.

Darko Desic who escaped from Grafton Jail as a 35-year-old in 1992. Picture: Supplied

He broke out of jail about 13 months into a three-and-a-half year sentence for growing marijuana. He feared that when his sentence was up he would be deported back to his homeland, the then Yugoslavia, which he’d fled to avoid compulsory military service.

A former neighbour of Mr Desic, when he shared a rented ramshackle house at 773 Barrenjoey Rd with three other men, told the Manly Daily he was a decent and kind-hearted man who was always happy for a chat over the fence and to lend a helping hand.

Local massage therapist, who goes by the name Shell Avalon, said she often saw Mr Desic at the supermarket and stopped to say hello.

Darko Desic had been living in this ramshackle house on Barrenjoey Rd, Avalon Beach. Picture: Supplied

“I lived next door to Dougie before I moved out about three and half years ago,” Shell said. “The place was pretty rundown. They had an umbrella over the toilet because the roof leaked.

“He was a small wiry man, and very private, but alway polite and kind to me.”

Shell said when a thunderstorm brought down powerlines and blacked out her home, Mr Desic organised to run a cable from their house into hers for eight days so she could have power.

“When I was moving out, there was gap in time before I could move into my new place, he offered to store my TV and plants and stuff.

Avalon massage therapist Shell Avalon was a neighbour who was helped out by Darko Desic. Picture: Supplied

“Dougie used to run callisthenics classes in the garden. He’d walk to the beach every day for a swim.

“He really doesn’t deserve to be behind bars.”

Mr Higgins said he had been told by one of Mr Desic’s stonemasonry customers that he revealed he never applied for a driver’s licence and never visited a doctor or a dentist for fear of having his identity uncovered.

“He even pulled out one of his own decayed teeth with a pair of pliers.

“Dougie wouldn’t take anymore than $200 a day for work and was a brilliant classical guitarist who played a guitar he found on the side of the road.

“When the guy gave him a brand new guitar as part payment for the stonework, Dougie broke down in tears.”

Mr Higgins has engaged solicitor Simon Long, of McGirr and Associates, to visit Mr Desic at the Silverwater Remand Centre.

“We want him to receive good legal representation so he doesn’t have to spend anymore time in jail then he needs to.

Darko Desic ended up sleeping rough on Avalon Beach. Picture: Adam Yip/ Manly Daily

“I mean the guy’s obviously a decent person who hasn’t put a foot wrong since he got out of the jail and has been quietly living his life here, but missing out on the things moit people take for granted.

“He hasn’t hurt anybody, has never put his hand out for government assistance and has been helping people in our community.

“I think he deserves a break.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up with a $30,000 target.

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