Ex-soldier Christopher Carter walks free: What happened that night
‘I ENDED up stabbing Renee with the knife again. I was in a state of self preservation.’ This was the gripping account ex-soldier Christopher Carter told a jury about why he killed two people. READ HIS OWN WORDS
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AFTER spending his first day of work at the Canungra Army Barracks on January 20, 2015, Christopher Carter drove to the Upper Coomera home of his ex-wife Renee to talk about their children and abusive messages.
Carter told the jury during his murder trial that Ms Carter was at the door when he arrived, standing on the patio smoking a cigarette.
Things became heated and Ms Carter went inside to check on her young son before returning brandishing a knife, the court heard.
Carter wrestled Ms Carter to the ground and stabbed her several times in the neck and stomach to get her off him before Corey Croft, a convicted paedophile who Carter found out some years earlier had forced a 10-year-old girl to shower with him, began attacking him.
He told the court he then felt something hit him in the back.
“I was still engaged with Corey,” Carter said.
“Essentially he was receiving wounds. I was stabbing Corey. As we moved back into what was the doorway, Corey fell to the ground.
“I didn’t know where Renee had gone through that period. I’ve just stood up and started moving to the back of the house.”
Carter then took a long pause and looked down shaking his head before saying: “I only just ... I only just stood up and I was moving toward the back of the house and I felt something on my back ... A blow ... I didn’t know what it (was), not until I turned around ... It was Renee.
“I ended up stabbing Renee with the knife again. I was in a state of self preservation. I didn’t know what was going on. I had no time to think of anything. I just felt Renee. I don’t know what, I just thought I was being attacked again.
“I was in a state of shock, I couldn’t believe what happened. I stabbed her. I didn’t mean to do it. I pushed her down off me. The way she fell to the ground ... it was essentially like she was unconscious and I’ve seen a pool of blood was coming from her head.
“I ended up putting the knife in Renee’s hand.
“The only thing I remember thinking in my head was: ‘It’s your knife, you can have it back’.”
Carter told the jury he was in fear of his life when he was allegedly threatened with a knife by Ms Carter, but said he lied to police about his state of mind because he didn’t want to feel “weak”.
“I was in fear of my life. I thought I was going to die. I certainly wouldn’t tell cops. My own pride, many people would testify, is my own worst enemy. I’m a sergeant in the army. I wasn’t going to tell two police officers I was in fear of my life. It made me feel weak and I wasn’t going to do it.”
The court heard Carter jumped the back fence of the suburban Upper Coomera home before throwing his clothes in a nearby bin and returning to his home after the attack.
He told the jury he spent most of that night in his garage contemplating suicide before trying to take his own life at Mt Tamborine by crashing his motorbike early the next morning.
“I was sort of under the impression someone would have seen what was going on. I was under the impression I’d be the first point of call for any police. I spent most of the night in the garage. There was no way out of it. It was only a matter of time before I was going to be sitting here in this position (in court).
“That’s essentially the decision I made. I was planning to ride ... off Mt Tamborine to kill myself.”
Carter told his defence barrister, David Brustman QC, he couldn’t go through with the suicide attempt and ended up going home before going to work.
“I was essentially just waiting for the door to open and be asked to leave the premises. I was essentially just waiting for police to come.”
HOW IT UNFOLDED IN COURT
CHRISTOPHER Carter whispered three words to his family as he waited for the jury to decide if he was guilty of double murder.
“Whatever happens, happens”, he said softly.
Moments later, after being acquitted of murdering his former wife Renee Carter and her partner, convicted paedophile Corey Croft, he said thank you to each one of the 12 jurors as they walked past the dock.
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He was also found not guilty of the alternative verdict of manslaughter.
Standing in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday, the relieved soldier then reached out his hands to embrace his parents and fiance.
HOW FAMILIES REACTED TO SHOCK VERDICT
During his trial, the 39-year-old admitted using those same hands to inflict 15 stab wounds to Ms Carter and Croft at their Upper Coomera home on January 20, 2015 after disputes over his children and Croft’s relationship with a 10-year-old girl.
The jury of six men and six women accepted he had acted in self-defence and been provoked that summer day, allowing Carter — who had been on remand since being arrested and charged in 2015 — a free man.
After waiting huddled together in the corridors at the Brisbane courthouse for most of yesterday, each member of Carter’s family let out an emotional shout before crying hysterically and hugging the accused.
His partner Angela Slade and mother and father were at court every day, alongside his oldest son, Harrison, and ex-partner Belinda Goodchild, the mother of Carter’s daughter.
His parents are everyday people and sat just metres from their son in the courtroom each day.
They appeared weathered.
On the opposite side of the court, Renee Carter’s father mumbled expletives at the decision before darting through the heavy courtroom doors.
Ms Carter’s mother, who had cried often when the horrific extent of her daughter’s injuries were detailed to the court during the trial, was not present for the verdict.
Croft’s family did not attend.
The jury accepted Mr Carter had been provoked after years of adversity between he and Ms Carter.
The court heard that Ms Carter had been to jail for Centrelink fraud four months before her death and Carter had gained custody of the pair’s two children in 2015.
The court was also told, years earlier Carter was made aware Croft had forced a 10-year-old girl to shower with him on several occasions and that he was a convicted paedophile who had raped a child in South Australia.
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The fact Carter had killed the pair was “not in dispute” throughout the trial but the issue in question was whether the Crown could show he had the intention to murder them.
Ms Carter was found with more than 10 stab wounds to her body, including a fatal blow to her neck, which severed her spinal cord.
Croft had five stab wounds to the neck and head, the court heard.
During his closing address on Wednesday, Crown prosector Glen Cash QC argued Carter intended to kill Croft and Ms Carter.
“The intent was one he developed in the course of the interactions, not that he came there to kill,” he said.
Defence barrister David Brustman QC, instructed by Dave Garratt of Howden Saggers Lawyers, argued the killing was not murder “per se”.
He said the killing was “a culmination of many years” and an event “which was utterly unforeseeable”.
Carter declined to comment as he left the Brisbane Supreme Court flanked by media, but could barely contain a relieved smile.
Howden Saggers partner Peter Saggers said outside court he was glad the jury had given “careful consideration” to the case.
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