Acquittal for killing ex- wife and her paedophile partner

A FORMER Australian Army soldier has been acquitted of the murders of his ex- wife and her new partner, a convicted paedophile, on the Gold Coast almost three years ago.

Christopher Robert Carter walked free from the Brisbane Supreme Court late yesterday after the jury deemed he killed Renee Carter and Corey Croft in self- defence in January 2015.

There were relieved tears from supporters in the public gallery when jurors came into the court to clear him of all charges. They had been deliberating Carter’s fate since the previous day, having heard evidence Carter went to his former wife’s Upper Coomera home to talk to her when she “came at ( him) with a knife”.

Christopher and Renee Carter met on the Sunshine Coast in 1988 and were later married in Townsville when they moved north after a work transfer.

In court, Carter recounted taking hold of the knife and stabbing the woman. When Croft appeared, he turned the blade on him as well, the jury heard. Ms Carter sustained multiple stab wounds to her head and body, including one to her neck that severed her spinal cord, it was heard. The trial had heard Mr Croft was convicted in South Australia of a child sex offence.

When Carter first learnt about it he was “shocked” and later “devastated” after finding out Mr Croft had been recently accused of sexually abusing a different child, it was heard.

Carter did not comment to waiting media as he left the court precinct.