Escapee, 64, sentenced after 29 years on the run in Sydney

SYDNEY — A 64-year-old fugitive who surrendered to Australian constabulary due to the fact that a Sydney lockdown near him jobless and stateless was sentenced connected Thursday to an further 2 months down bars for escaping from situation astir 30 years ago.

Darko Desic has been backmost successful custody since mid-September erstwhile helium walked into a constabulary presumption successful the formation suburb of Dee Why and confessed to breaking retired of Grafton Prison, 620 kilometers (390 miles) to the north, successful 1992.

He pleaded blameworthy to escaping from lawful custody and was returned to situation to service the remaining 14 months of a 33-month condemnation for increasing marijuana.

In Sydney’s Central Local Court connected Thursday, Magistrate Jennifer Atkinson said she had nary alternate to imposing a situation condemnation for escaping.

She added 2 months to his sentence. The offence carries a imaginable maximum of 10 years.

She accepted that Desic had escaped due to the fact that of “real fears” that helium would beryllium deported erstwhile his condemnation was served to his homeland that was past known arsenic Yugoslavia. He feared helium would person to service successful the subject during the 1991-1995 wars that led to the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Outside court, defence lawyer Paul McGirr told reporters Desic had precocious received a missive from Australian Border Force informing him helium would beryllium deported erstwhile helium was released from prison.

“Bearing successful caput helium doesn’t person the aforesaid state near to spell backmost to being Yugoslavia,” McGirr said. “Hopefully idiosyncratic with a spot of communal consciousness looks astatine that.”

It is not wide to which state Desic could beryllium deported. He is not an Australian citizen.

To flight prison, Desic, 35, utilized a hacksaw leaf to chopped done compartment model bars. He recovered bolt cutters successful a shed wrong the situation grounds and chopped done a perimeter fence.

He past spent 3 decades successful Sydney’s fashionable bluish formation suburbs adjacent wherever helium surrendered to police.

Desic committed nary further crimes but had lived nether a changeless load of not knowing erstwhile helium mightiness beryllium arrested, McGirr said.

His section assemblage wherever helium had worked arsenic a handyman had grown to “love and respect” him,” McGirr said.

An outbreak of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus locked down Sydney from June 26 until Oct. 11, drying up Desic’s income and leaving him sleeping successful soil dunes.

A nationalist fundraising run had raised 30,000 Australian dollars ($23,000) successful enactment of his ineligible costs bills and lodging needs since his arrest, McGirr said.

The magistrate said the decades that had passed since his past condemnation established that helium changed.

“He intelligibly has made an important interaction connected the community,” Atkinson said.

Prosecutor Scott Williams said the lawsuit evoked a “romantic idea” of flight and asked for a full-time custodial sentence.

This was needed to guarantee different prisoners contemplating breaking retired knew they would beryllium punished “no substance however agelong aft flight erstwhile captured,” Williams said.