Lowell's Matar sentenced to 35 years in prison for rape

Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies bring Ali Matar to court Friday in Bentonville.
Benton County Sheriff’s Office deputies bring Ali Matar to court Friday in Bentonville.

BENTONVILLE-- Ali Matar Jr. showed no emotion Friday as he was sentenced to 35 years in prison for raping a 5-year-old girl last year.

A jury found Matar guilty of rape, a Class Y felony. He faced from 25 to 40 years in prison or life imprisonment.

Matar’s Sentence

Ali Matar Jr., 22, of Lowell will be required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of raping a 5-year-old girl. He must enroll and complete the prison’s sex offender treatment program. He cann’t have any contact with the girl and Circuit Judge Brad Karen ordered Matar not to have any unsupervised contact with any minors.

The jury acquitted Matar of two counts of sexual assault in the second degree, a Class B felony. It took the panel of seven women and five men about 45 minutes to deliberate Matar's sentence.

Matar, 22, of Lowell must serve 24 years before he will be eligible for parole.

Matar worked for the Bentonville School District as a leader for Adventure Club at R.E. Baker Elementary School. He was accused of sexually abusing three kindergartners in his group.

Matar looked straight ahead as Circuit Judge Brad Karren sentenced him to prison. Benton County Sheriff's Office deputies then led him handcuffed from the courtroom. The families of the girls sat on one side of the courtroom and Matar's family sat on the other side. There were no outbursts in the courtroom.

The rape charge involves the 5-year-old girl. Prosecutors used Matar's confession to police as evidence at trial. There was no confession involving the two other girls.

The three girls testified at trial and said Matar touched them inappropriately while at Adventure Club. The mother of the then 5-year-old girl told jurors her daughter now has trust issues with men and is afraid of boys as result of Matar's actions. She also said during the sentencing phase her daughter is in counseling and dealing with issues at school. The girl's mother was concerned her daughter would continue to face problems as she grew older.

She was the only witness prosecutors called during the sentencing phase.

Matar also testified during the sentencing phase, but he denied raping the girl. Matar told jurors he was sorry the girls and their families had to go through an investigation and trial.

Matar's father, mother, sister and brother also testified. They wanted the jury to show mercy when it came to his sentence.

Matar's brother, John, said they still believe in his brother's innocence.

Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecutor, didn't recommend a sentence to jurors, but told them Matar's actions were evil and wicked.

"There are no other ways to describe them," Smith said. "This is a fact."

"Someone who raped a child at school -- his student -- does not deserve 25 years," Smith said as he argued against the minimum sentence.

Justin Hurst, one of Matar's attorneys, urged jurors not to consider a life sentence for Matar since there would be no chance for parole.

"There is no way for him to leave that facility except in a casket," Hurst said. Matar can be rehabilitated, Hurst said.

Matar will spend a minimum of 25 years in prison, Hurst said.

"It's longer that he's been alive," Hurst said.

Hurst told jurors they weren't only determining Matar's sentencing, but also the remainder of his life.

The girls weren't in the courtroom during sentencing.

Hurst said he was disappointed by the rape verdict, but he was happy the jury acquitted Matar on the two counts of sexual assault. Hurst said he was pleased with how seriously the jury treated the case.

Matar and his family are having a tough time with the verdict, Hurst said.

"They know that they have lost their family member for many years," he said.

Hurst said Matar's recorded confession was hard to overcome.

"It's the toughest piece of evidence that they had," he said.

Smith also said Matar's confession was crucial in obtaining the rape conviction. Smith said the prosecution relied heavily on the interview, and he believes the jury also relied on it to find Matar guilty of rape.

Smith said he's grateful to the families for allowing the children to testify.

"It's a great burden on families and parents to entrust their children to us and let them testify," Smith said. "The parents are not in the courtroom because we want the children to be focused on their testimony instead of the parents."

Tracy M. Neal can be reached by email at tneal@nwadg.com or Twitter @NWATracy.

NW News on 01/31/2015

Upcoming Events