‘I was attacked with knife’ Murder accused says ex-wife ‘came at’ him night he killed her and paedophile boyfriend

SOLDIER Christopher Robert Carter went to his ex-wife’s Upper Coomera home in early 2015 to discuss their children.

He walked out having killed two people after realising she was still living with her convicted paedophile boyfriend, who Carter believed had sexually assaulted a 10-year-old girl.

“I didn’t even know that prick (Corey Croft) was there,” Carter told police a day after the killings in an hour-long interview played in the Brisbane Supreme Court yesterday.

“I thought it was just her ... I was under the impression she hadn’t seen that (expletive) for (more than a year) ...

“I was just so (expletive) angry seeing him, knowing what (the girl has) been through ... and she’s (Renee Carter) still maintained a relationship with him ... I was angry ... I stabbed him as well.”

Carter, who was based at Canungra Army Barracks after serving in East Timor and Iraq, is accused of the double murder of his ex-wife Renee Carter and her partner Corey Croft at their Skylark St home on January 20, 2015.

The 39-year-old pleaded not guilty to both charges at the start of his trial by a jury of six women and six men in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday.

Carter’s defence barrister David Brustman QC said the fact Carter killed both Ms Carter and Mr Croft was “not in dispute”, but the issue in question was whether the Crown could show he intended to murder them.

Mr Brustman, instructed by Howden Saggers Lawyers, also argued Carter acted in self-defence after Ms Carter “came at him” with a knife on the patio of the home.

More than three years before Croft was found dead alongside Ms Carter at their suburban Gold Coast home, the daughter of a police officer, who was a friend of the family, contacted Carter to tell him Croft was a convicted sex offender living under an alias with a 10-year-old girl in Ipswich, the court was told.

The court heard Croft had forced the girl to shower with him.

Croft was also convicted of raping a child in South Australia and had a conviction for possessing child exploitation material in Queensland, the court heard.

The court heard Carter told police Ms Carter went inside to check on her five-year-old son half way through a conversation on the day she died, January 20, 2015, and returned threatening him with a knife.

“I went there with the intention to talk to her and she came at me with knives ... she came at me with a (expletive) knife ...,” Carter told police.

“I took the knife off her and that’s where it’s at ...

“It happened so (expletive) fast ... It was just instinct... I’m not saying that to get out of it... but it was just... either way... I (expletive) did what I did... it happened in the blink of an eye and I’ve done what I’ve done... It made it worse when Corey (expletive) appeared ...”

Police officers asked Carter during the interview whether he believed he’d done something wrong on the evening he killed Ms Carter and Croft.

“The way I handled it, I’ve done something wrong ... not when I first went there ... but the way I conducted myself afterwards was poor... very poor.”

Carter left both bodies laying on the ground before leaving the house over the back fence and dumping his armyissue clothing in a nearby wheelie bin in the suburban street.

“I didn’t check (the bodies)... I didn’t think about it ... it happened ... I panicked ... like what the (expletive) ... I went out that back sliding door and over the fence.”

The trial continues today.