Cloudy / 66° F
Sabby may spend life in prison for abuse [UPDATED]
Published 9:01am Tuesday, June 26, 2012 Updated 12:05pm Tuesday, June 26, 2012Jury deliberated for nearly 12 full hours
By Mitch Sneed
Douglas County Sentinel
The Elbow Lake man convicted in Douglas County, Ga. of molesting his stepdaughter last week will learn Wednesday if he will ever leave prison.
David Randy Sabby, 49, was convicted of two counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of child molestation, one count of incest and one count of statutory rape. Douglas County Superior Court Judge David Emerson will hand down Sabby’s sentence.
The jury found that the former airline pilot committed illegal sexual acts with his stepdaughter while the family lived in Villa Rica, Ga. in 2006 and 2007.
Aggravated child molestation carries up to a 30-year prison sentence. With multiple counts, Sabby could see a penalty so lengthy he may never see freedom again. Sabby must be returned to Minnesota in a few weeks, where he is already serving time for similar charges, also against his stepdaughter, related to a March 2009 incident when he kidnapped her from the WestRidge Mall parking lot in Fergus Falls and sexually assaulted her. He was temporarily extradited to Georgia for a trial, and after the sentencing he will return to Minnesota until his prison sentence is up (after that, he will serve the remainder of his Georgia sentence).
In the trial, the jury heard from his stepdaughter, now 20 years old, who testified that she was sexually abused “as long as I can remember,” recounting instances where she had to “earn” items like a party dress, by being forced to have sex with Sabby. The details were graphic and the victim told one investigator that there were “at least 100” encounters with Sabby. In his closing, Kegley said the abuse had forced the victim to “endure a lifetime of sexual abuse, a lifetime of torment. In the process she was robbed of her childhood and he effectively made her his wife.”
Other alleged victims, his ex-wife, family friends and law enforcement officials from Villa Rica and Minnesota were also called as prosecution witnesses.
From jury selection to verdict, the trial for Sabby lasted nine days. In all, the jury deliberated for nearly 12 full hours.
