Prison escapee Darko Desic launches legal bid for freedom

Darko Desic escaped from a jail three decades ago but turned himself in to police this month. Now he is fighting to get his freedom back.

A man who gave himself up almost 30 years after breaking out of prison could soon again be free, with a legal bid aiming to have him granted a reprieve now underway.

Darko Desic, 64, walked into Dee Why Police Station earlier this month and told officers that in 1992 he had escaped from Grafton Prison while 13 months into a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for supplying cannabis.

After his prison break Desic settled on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, establishing himself in the community as a model citizen who never came to the attention of police, although a wanted man.

Desic’s solicitor Paul McGirr said he will be launching a bid for him to be granted an immediate release from jail and said his client’s impeccable record in the decades since his escape proves he has learnt his lesson.

Desic drew blanks for years looking for him after he escaped Grafton prison.

“We’re basically hoping he’ll be granted clemency for his historical crimes,” Mr McGirr said.

“And so what that involves is putting forward detailed written submissions to the Governor of NSW and a decision will be made on advice of the executive council, and from there it goes on to Corrective Services.

“The main function of prisons is rehabilitation, there’s also the prong of general deterrence for others in the community not to commit the same offence, but probably more so than it was back then (in 1991) it is tilted towards rehabilitation.”

When Desic handed himself in he told police that the reason he escaped from prison was because he feared being deported back to Yugoslavia once he had served his sentence.

In the 1980s he had fled his war torn homeland without doing his compulsory military service.

If sent back, he feared the consequences of a ruthless regime.

Desic pictured writing home in 1985.

In a deliberate bid to keep a low profile after escaping to the Northern Beaches, Desic had become known by the nickname “Dougie” and worked as a contractor doing cash jobs.

While all the time looking over his shoulder, as a GoFundMe page which has raised more than $26,000 to aid the homeless man proves, he had become a valued member of society before falling on hard times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Left homeless and jobless, on September 12 he handed himself in – knowing that by doing so, he would at least be fed and have a roof over his head.

Over the last five years NSW has introduced a variety of new sentencing options for magistrates and judges to provide them with more alternatives to imprisonment.

They include community corrections orders (CCO) and intensive corrections orders (ICO), which replaced suspended sentences and allow individuals convicted of lesser offences to serve what would-be jail time in the community under a varying level of supervision.

Desic’s solicitor Paul McGirr is acting pro bono.

Mr McGirr said he hopes that Desic’s prison sentence can be changed to one of these alternative sentences - which weren’t available to courts in 1991.

“Gone are the days of just lock them up and throw away the key, and studies have found that a lot of people sent to jail learn more crime in jail than if they were on the street,” he said.

“I’m not saying no one should go to prison, what I’m saying is there he has made a point to the community and everybody else that he hasn’t reoffended.

“I’ll be submitting that with the fullness of time, with what he’s achieved and the reason he did it, what is the point in sending him back inside?”

The Governor’s options include a free pardon which would remove the punishment but not the conviction.

But Mr McGirr said he would be pushing for a conditional pardon which would allow Desic’s prison sentence to be substituted for another punishment - such as a CCO or ICO.

Mr McGirr is acting pro bono for Desic meaning the money raised by the community through GoFundMe to pay for a lawyer will instead be able to help his client get back on his feet, should he be let out of prison.