For more than 15 years, Dandre Shabazz got away with a string of violent assaults against women, according to prosecutors. But the evidence linking him to the crimes had been there all along.
On Wednesday, the 56-year-old Shabazz was convicted, the Fulton County District Attorney's Office said. It was the second conviction in five days in Fulton County that involved a lack of previous rape kit testing.
From January 2002 until March 2005, Shabazz attacked a dozen women in Fulton County. And those victims underwent sexual assault examinations at Grady Memorial Hospital.
Then, those assault kits — containing Shabazz’s DNA — sat untouched for more than a decade.
That changed following a 2015 AJC investigation that revealed more than 1,300 rape kits were at Grady and had never been turned over to investigators. The following year, a new Georgia law required that all of the untested kits be submitted to the GBI for testing.
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In April 2017, the GBI contacted the Fulton DA’s office. Shabazz’s DNA was found on one kit, and then 11 others, the DA’s office said.
“This man was a violent and ruthless serial rapist. Because rape kits were not tested in a timely manner, he was allowed, not only to continue to prey upon the women of our community, but he almost got away with his brutal crimes, scot-free,” Fulton County DA Paul Howard said in an emailed statement. “I am thankful to all of the people who worked so hard to get these rape kits tested. The criminal justice system should never allow rape kits to go untested again.”
In June 2018, a Fulton County grand jury indicted Shabazz in the rapes. By then, he was behind bars in federal prison. In 2006, he was convicted of several armed robberies as part of the “Daybreak Bandits” who targeted restaurants in the early morning hours.
Shabazz’s trial began Feb. 18 in Fulton County. Prosecutors told the jury Shabazz targeted young women who were alone late at night and assaulted them at gunpoint. But he didn’t use a condom, which linked him to the crimes.
Shabazz was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated sodomy and aggravated child molestation, the DA’s office said. His sentencing is scheduled for Tuesday.
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