State Attorney John F. Durrett announces that Defendant Desmond Gibbons was convicted as charged in Hamilton County on October 22, 2025 by a jury of his peers for three counts of Armed Sexual Battery and three Counts of Armed Kidnapping. The Defendant was sentenced on the same day to 6 life sentences for the offenses.
At trial, it was shown that the Defendant kidnapped an adult woman and her two young children from a public location in Suwannee County at gunpoint on the night of July 31, 2023. The Defendant then transported the victim to Hamilton County where he kept her and her children at gunpoint for several hours into the morning of August 1, repeatedly raping the adult victim during that time.
The case was investigated by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office with the assistance of the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The State of Florida was represented by Assistant State Attorney Travis Munden at trial and at sentencing. The Honorable Jamie L. Tyndal presided over the case.
