Bail breaker returns to the island to face the music six years later

Tuesday 22 February 2022

A man who left Guernsey when he was due in court more than six years ago eventually faced the Magistrate yesterday after suddenly returning to the island on Friday.

In 2015, Diogo Filipe Abreau Pao was charged with two offences. On 22 June of that year, he appeared in the Magistrate's Court and was released on bail.

He denied the original offences and was expected back in court on 13 July 2015. But his defence advocate yesterday, Sam Steele, said his client found the 2015 proceedings stressful and decided to leave the island on a one-way flight to London. 

Pao was then charged with failing to surrender to custody. And nothing more was heard from him for more than six years. 

Pao recently decided to return to Guernsey. He notified the courts of his incoming flight on Friday 18 February.

He was arrested at the airport and held in remand over the weekend before appearing in the Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Pictured: Pao has been working as a waiter in London. 

The witnesses to the original offences of 2015 were no longer available and the prosecution dropped the charges relating to those offences. 

Therefore, Pao was before the court on his bail offence. 

“This is a serious offence because it offends the proper administration of justice,” said Judge Graeme McKerrell. 

He was unimpressed with Pao’s apparent attempt to “satisfy his own conscience”, suggesting the lengthy period of time away from the island essentially forced the original charges to be dropped.

“While there was always a risk [handing himself in] it was a very small risk,” he said.

Pao was handed a £1,500 fine that had to be paid before he could be released. Judge McKerrell suggested he then get on a flight back to the UK.

He told Pao: “I sincerely hope it’s a one-way ticket."