<div><iframe media_type="0" media_id="E55vGZg3h2g" class="youtube-replace" title="YouTube video player" style="margin-bottom:20px;width:560px;height:315px;" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/E55vGZg3h2g/?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="1"></iframe><br />HI, My name is Belle Higgins and i am raising money for a man who deserves your help. Although i have never met him i believe everyone deserves a second chance. <br /><br />Imagine spending 30 years on the run, in survival mode... what a life that would've been. Darko Desic broke out of the Grafton Correctional Centre on the night of August 1, 1992, 13 months into a three-and-a-half-year sentence for cannabis cultivation.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>On Sunday, September 12, he handed himself into police. For the last 29 years, the 64-year-old has been living and working as a labourer doing cash-in-hand jobs on Sydney’s Northern Beaches, the Daily Telegraph reports.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>But the coronavirus pandemic hit him hard and he was made homeless.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>“He said he’s been living in Avalon, just doing labouring and odd jobs for cash for almost three decades,” a police source told the newspaper. “He’s been completely law abiding, never come under attention, never been spoken to.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>“He told us he never caused anyone any trouble so no one ever looked at him twice.<br /><br />Belle Higgins, a practicing psychotherapist, said she “couldn’t imagine what he has been through in the past 30 years”. “He hasn’t been able to go to the doctor or have a stable relationship. He hasn’t had any family. He’s been here, alone, going through mental anguish,” she told the Guardian.<br /><br />The concerned local said many people had offered Desic jobs, too. “I’ve seen so many people writing saying he’s got a job and roof over his head when he comes out of prison.”<br /><br />Belle Higgins said she hoped people could look past his past “and see the beautiful side to this story”. “It is not often we get to see a good person rehabilitated – to get a whole community around one person is what we should be doing.”
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>“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’.”
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>The 64-year-old claimed he escaped because he feared he would be deported to Yugoslavia, where he expected to be punished for fleeing without completing compulsory military service, once he served his sentence, police added.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>Desic was charged with escape prisoner from lawful custody and faced court on Tuesday where he was formally refused bail.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>He is set to face court again later this month. We are advocating to raise funds to obtain a criminal lawyer and get him back on his feet. Everyone deserves a second chance.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>Seems like he was a small offender and the laws were harsher back then for people growing pot.
</div>

<div>Meanwhile, he has stayed out of trouble and has had this problem hanging over his head for half his life. Also he has helped our community and been a decent fellow.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>Remember he has been in our community for thirty years and ended up homeless on our beach at avalon. Never did he hurt anybody. He is in a jail now.
</div>

<div> 
</div>

<div>Our goals .
</div>

<div>• get him a lawyer.
</div>

<div>•get him out of jail
</div>

<div>•get him a roof over his head
</div>

<div>• give him some meaning and purpose in his life.
</div>

<div>Whose up for this !!
</div>

Bruce Butler

Anonymous

Colin Cameron

Graham England

Ellie Thomas

Arthur Abeleven

Grahame Lewis

David Cashman

Alan Pert

Nicolette Boaz

Christopher Ward

Samuel Woodroof

Rebuilding a life for Darko "Dougie"  Desic

Rebuilding a life for Darko "Dougie" Desic

Still $15,216 to go. Help us build momentum.