There is an update in the case of an Atlanta minister who fled court after his conviction.
Don Martin, 45, was found guilty of rape, aggravated sexual battery, child molestation and first-degree child cruelty on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2018. He was not present during five days of hearings, failed to appear in court for sentencing and had been on the run until this past Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018.
Although Martin was living in the United States, he is a citizen of the Bahamas and apparently decided to go back to his birthplace to lay low. Those plans were dashed when he was arrested by Bahamian police at Lynden Pindling International Airport, according to Bahamian newspaper Tribune 242. Martin will be extradited back to Atlanta and serve a life sentence for his crimes.
Martin’s crimes stretch back 13 years when, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he was accused of inappropriately touching a young girl in College Park and Atlanta. In 2011, the victim told police she had been sexually abused by Martin since the age of 7 in 2005. Police investigated the allegations in 2011 and briefly closed the case when Martin’s victim did not show up for a forensic interview. The case was reopened in 2014 after the persistence of the victim’s legal guardian, and Martin was arrested that year.
Martin posted a $15,000 bond, was released from prison and had to wear an ankle monitor. However, in 2017, a Fulton County Superior Court judge altered the conditions of his bond and allowed Martin to remove his ankle monitor.
