March 12, 2024
A Duluth, Georgia man has been sentenced to life in prison this week after being found guilty on counts of rape, false imprisonment, theft by deception, sexual battery, and battery.
The crimes happened last year, on February 5, 2023, when self-proclaimed witch doctor, Hassan Shalgheen, now forty-five, lured a woman to his home under the guise of performing a ritual to help her with the struggles she was facing in her personal life.
Shalgheen coaxed a woman he had met online to his apartment on the 3700 block of Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Berkley Landing at around 9pm that night, where he said he would perform a ritual. The victim referred to Shalgheen as a shaman.
The pair had planned the ceremony over social media.
Shalgheen claimed he would perform a "healing ritual” that said would “remove the evil spirits” from the victim’s life.
The victim was charged a $200 deposit and told to pay the rest in installments over the month. She was informed that the ritual would take around 3 hours. The total cost of the ritual, she was told, would be $1,500.
The victim made her way to Shalgeen’s apartment on February 5, and upon entering the residence said she quickly noticed a handgun had been set down on the table.
Once inside, he began making demands.
He forced the victim to get undressed and put on a white nightgown that he had laid out for her arrival. The victim said she did so because she was afraid Shalgheen would use the firearm against her if she resisted.
He then lit incense sticks and began chanting.
The victim said that she was forcefully undressed by Shalgheen, before being shoved into the bedroom while he held her arms and forced her into sex, twice.
According to Duluth Detectives, the victim asked if she could leave, but Shalgheen said she could not, that she had to “have faith in him,” and “be obedient.”
Eventually she was allowed to get dressed and leave, but not before he demanded the victim give him an extra $300. Records would later reveal the victim had sent her attacker $500 over two transactions.
The victim sent the money to Shalgheen, and fled the apartment.
Although Shalgheen threatened that he would report the victim, who was Hispanic, to immigration if she were to report him, she went ahead and reported her attacker to the Duluth Police Department anyway.
Duluth Police received asexual assault call at around 11:15pm and met the victim outside of the building where she had been attacked.
The victim had torn clothing and bruising on her body following the assaults.
From there, officers obtained a search warrant, and entered the man’s home where they obtained physical evidence connecting him to the crime.
Bodycam footage from the search and arrest shows officers entering the building, one announcing:
“We’re here to execute a search warrant. I’m going to have my copies here with me, and also, we got a search warrant for mucus swabs and DNA.”
Duluth Police urged anyone else who had fell victim to Shalgheen to contact them.
Gwinnett District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson told Fox5 Atlanta: "Victims should not have to feel like they are alone when dealing with this type of crime." "We encourage people who have experienced such heinous crimes to come forward and we will get justice. We thank the team that worked on this case, and we thank the jury for returning a conviction."
Police arrested Shalgheen the following day, charging him with charged with two counts of rape, false imprisonment, theft by taking, and sexual battery. He was transported and booked into the Adult Detention Center.
A neighbor of Shalgheen's told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau that she had seen several women go in and out of the man's apartment.
After news of Shalgheen's arrest broke, four additional women came forward to police, reporting they too had faced similar ordeals at the hands of the self-professed Witch Doctor. They too had agreed to undergo a “cleansing ritual” at Shalgheen’s home where he assaulted them. At least one of the women met the perpetrator through an online dating app.
Two of the four women went on to testify against him at his trial last month in February 2024.
WSB-TV reported that Shalgheen shook his head and covered his face while listening to a Duluth Detective testify at a court hearing in February 2023.
Shalgheen, who speaks Arabic and Spanish, was aided by an Arabic translator.
At the hearing it was revealed that Shalgheen had been advertising himself as a Witch Doctor online across various social media platforms in order to lure victims to his home and “cure” them of their problems using rituals and alternative medicine.
He is currently serving out a life sentence for his crimes.
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