Man Turns Himself In 30 Years After Escaping From Prison



On the night of August 1, 1992, 13 months into a 3½-year sentence for growing marijuana, Darko Desic escaped from the Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales, Australia, using a hacksaw blade and bolt cutters. Despite an extensive search, authorities were never able to locate Desic, and he remained a fugitive for the next 29 years. Imagine everyone’s surprise when he recently turned up at a police station to turn himself in. It turns out, he made the decision because the COVID-19 pandemic left him homeless and with no way to support himself. The Yugoslavian-born fugitive had fled to Sydney’s northern beaches where he worked as a builder and handyman in order to make ends meet. Unfortunately, working as a cash-in-hand builder meant he struggled to pay his rent, and as work dried up because of the pandemic, the situation became unbearable. Eventually, Desic decided prison was better than being homeless and decided to just turn himself in. He was taken into custody and charged with escape from lawful custody and held without bail. It was exactly what he was hoping would happen. Now, members of the community he lived in for the past three decades have set up a GoFundMe campaign and have offered to help the 64-year-old build a new life. Desic now has a minimum of just over a year to serve on his outstanding sentence, and people who have watched him live as a good citizen for the past 29 years think he shouldn’t have to face additional escape charges that could land him in jail for another seven years.