American gets 165 years in jail for child sex abuse in Haiti
From Caribbean360
Records show that Carter was previously acquitted of charges related to the sexual abuse of children in London, Cairo and Florida.
MIAMI, United States, Friday August 2, 2013 – Matthew Andrew Carter, an American paedophile masquerading as an international humanitarian, was sentenced on Wednesday to 165 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for child sex tourism offenses.
Carter, 68, aka “William Charles Harcourt” and “Bill Carter,” was sentenced in Miami by US District Judge Joan A. Lenard of the Southern District of Florida.
Carter had been convicted by a jury in February of five counts of travelling in foreign commerce from the United States to Haiti for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with children and one count of attempting to do so.
“For 15 years, Matthew Carter, under the guise of serving as an international humanitarian, sexually abused more than 50 Haitian children,” the acting assistant attorney general said in a statement.
“He held himself out as a savior to vulnerable children in Haiti, but in fact cruelly forced those children to choose between poverty and submitting to repeated sexual abuse.
“Child sex tourism is a heinous crime, and today’s sentence demonstrates our commitment to bringing the weight of justice on anyone who seeks to exploit our most vulnerable citizens, wherever they reside,” he added.
Court documents and evidence presented at trial showed that from 1995 to 2011 Carter resided at and operated the Morning Star Center near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, prior to his arrest in May 2011.
The Center was a residential facility that provided shelter, food, clothing and school tuition to Haitian children from impoverished families that could not feed, educate or otherwise support their children.
Carter specifically targeted children in need and preyed on their vulnerability, according to evidence presented at trial.
Between 1995 and 2011, he made frequent trips between the United States and Haiti in order to raise funds from churches and other donors for the continued upkeep of the Morning Star Center.
During this period, Carter repeatedly sexually and physically abused the children in his care and custody at the centre.
The trial revealed that Carter used force to get these children to comply with his sexual demands and required the children to participate in sexual acts in order to receive food, remain at the center and/or continue to receive school tuition.
Sixteen Haitian victims who had resided at the Morning Star Center between 1995 and 2011 testified at the trial.
An additional four witnesses testified that they were sexually abused by Carter in London during the 1970s.
Records show that Carter was previously acquitted of charges related to the sexual abuse of children in London, Cairo and Florida.
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