Gold Coast double murder trial: Jurors told Chris Carter is ‘dishonest and uncredible’

THE jury in the double murder trial of a former soldier have been told to find him a dishonest and uncredible man, who intended to kill his ex-wife and her new boyfriend at their Upper Coomera home.

THE jury in the Chris Carter murder trial have been told find the former soldier a dishonest and uncredible man, who intended to kill his ex-wife and her new boyfriend at their Upper Coomera home two years ago.

In his closing address to Brisbane Supreme Court, Crown prosecutor Glen Cash QC argued the jury should not find Carter acted in self-defence when he killed Renee Carter and convicted paedophile Corey Croft at their Skylark St home on January 20, 2015.

The pair were found stabbed to death by a relative some 24-hours after the attack.

Their five-year-old son was in the house at the time and removed the knife used in the stabbing from his mother’s hand and placed it in the sink.

A young boy is comforted at the scene of an Upper Coomera double murder. Photo: Glenn Hampson

Christopher Robert Carter, 39, pleaded not guilty to the pair’s murder at the start of his trial by a jury of six men and six women last week.

He has conceded to having stabbed the pair.

Mr Cash this morning told the jury Carter developed the intent to kill Mr Croft and Ms Carter after arriving at the home, not that he went there to kill them.

“The intent was one he developed in the course of the interactions, not that he came there to kill,” he said.

Mr Cash told the jury to find defences of provocation and self defence could not be made out by Carter’s legal team.

Christopher Carter is accused of the double murder

“The level of danger presented by either Corey Croft or Renee Carter was not such to justify the use of lethal force which could lead to the conclusion that neither death was excused on that basis of self defence,” he said.

“Look at the danger of the threat and ask yourself, was it necessary for him to stab Corey Croft and Renee Carter multiple times to protect himself from death or grievous bodily harm? And plainly, the answer is no.”

The extent of the injuries should also lead the jury to find Carter had the intent to kill the pair, Mr Cash argued.

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.

Mr Croft had five stab wounds to the neck and head, the court heard.

“The number of injuries speak of deliberate (actions) and intent, not someone who is flailing around in self defence,” Mr Cash told the jury.

Corey Croft was a convicted child sex offender. He was killed in his Upper Coomera home.

Mr Cash said the fact Carter had disposed of his clothes in a nearby bin, deleted calls from the log on his phone and initially lied to police after the killing showed he had tried to “conceal his involvement”.

“He has a demonstrated capacity to lie and deceive when it suits his purposes,” he said.

“There are so many doubts about how his story evolved that you just can’t trust what he says as a reliable account.

“It is a reconstruction about how he wishes things were rather than how they actually were.”

Yesterday, David Brustman QC closed the case for the defence.

Chris Carter is standing trial for double murder. Artist impression: Nine News

He argued Carter had acted in self defence after being attacked by both Ms Carter and Mr Croft.

“ ... This was a matter of self defence in the spur of the moment on the day,” Mr Brustman said.

“ ... An otherwise lawfully abiding citizen, a man who ostensibly defends others, a man who doesn’t lose his temper, who tries to do things the right way, who acts reasonably at all times, acted reasonably at all times toward his former wife in the face of aggression, hostility, madness ... we don’t disparage the dead, but that’s what we say to you this was.

“And as a culmination of many years, an event happened which was utterly unforeseeable.”

The jury retired this afternoon