ATLANTA, GA – An Atlanta minister who was a fugitive from justice after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl has been apprehended in the Bahamas. According to the Fulton County District Attorney’s office, Don Martin, 45, is in the process of being extradited to Georgia. Martin, originally from the Bahamas, had already been convicted of rape, aggravated sexual battery, child molestation and cruelty to children, but a Fulton County Superior Court judge postponed Martin’s sentencing because the victim wanted to face Martin during the sentencing. That’s when Martin fled Atlanta.
On Monday, Martin was finally sentenced to life in prison for rape and aggravated sexual battery, along with 20 years each on cruelty to children in the first degree and child molestation.
On August 17, 2011, police responded to an Atlanta home on sexual battery call. Police were met by a young girl who said Martin had touched her private parts repeatedly for several years at locations in College Park and Atlanta, beginning back in 2005 when the girl was 7. She said the abuse continued for six years until she was 13.
The girl’s legal guardian said she was friends with Martin and met him at an Atlanta church where he was a minster. She further stated that the defendant would visit her home on a regular basis and Martin would often stay overnight. The Guardian said the victim would sleep upstairs while Martin would sleep downstairs, and she was unaware of any sexual abuse.
Police closed the case in 2011 when the victim failed to attend a forensic interview and the defendant provided an alibi. However, the case was reopened in 2014 because the victim’s legal guardian contacted police to report the victim was repeating her allegations against Martin. The victim was then forensically interviewed. The girl also said Martin raped her in her bedroom on one occasion. The victim said her little brother and her legal guardian were in the home when some of the sexual assaults occurred.
During a separate interview in 2015, the victim said Martin molested her more than 30 times between 2005 and 2011, including on her 12th birthday.
In 2014, shortly after Martin’s arrest, a Fulton County magistrate court judge released Martin on a $15,000 bond with the requirement that he wear an ankle monitor. Martin was indicted in 2015, but in 2017, a Fulton County Superior Court Judge altered the conditions of Martin’s bond and allowed him to remove the ankle monitor. After five days of testimony during Martin’s trial, Martin failed to appear in court for closing arguments and the verdict.