A man who sexually assaulted a dozen women has been sentenced to 12 consecutive life sentences, according to the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office.
A Fulton County judge handed down 56-year-old Dandre Shabazz’s sentence Tuesday morning, the district attorney’s office confirmed to AJC.com.
“Sir, you’re lucky we live in a civilized society,” said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Alford Dempsey, according to Channel 2 Action News. “True justice would be to put you in a room with your victims and turn them loose on you.”
A jury convicted Shabazz on Wednesday after DNA evidence from previously untested rape kits linked him to the attacks. 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 assaulted a dozen women in Fulton County, AJC.com previously reported. The victims underwent sexual assault examinations at Grady Memorial Hospital.
MORE: Serial rapist convicted in 12 assaults dating to 2002
However, 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.
RELATED: Nearly 13 years later, DNA leads to rape conviction
ALSO: Grady releasing 1,000 rape kits withheld from law enforcement
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 latest trial began Feb. 18 in Fulton County. Prosecutors told the jury that Shabazz targeted young women who were alone late at night and assaulted them at gunpoint. 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 district attorney’s office said.
In court, Shabazz maintained his innocence and said any samples that matched his DNA were from consensual sex, Channel 2 reported.
— Staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this article.
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