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Jury Starts Deliberations In Trial For Bentonville Schools’ Employee

BENTONVILLE (KFSM) – The jury has started deliberating in Ali Matar’s rape and sexual assault trial, coming off of a day of testimony Wednesday in w...
matar day 3 cropped

BENTONVILLE (KFSM) – The jury has started deliberating in Ali Matar’s rape and sexual assault trial, coming off of a day of testimony Wednesday in which the three alleged victims testified.

Matar, 22, was an employee for the Bentonville School District’s Adventure Club, an after school program. Matar was charged with raping a five-year-old girl and sexually assaulting two other girls in the program at a school in May of 2014. He was fired from the school district shortly after his arrest last year.

(The photo accompanying this story is an updated photograph from Day 3 of Matar’s trial.)

Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecutor, called all three alleged victims to the stand Wednesday. The girl who Matar is charged with raping told the jury that Matar had touched her inappropriately under her clothes. She said that he had “tickled her privates” in the library at R.E. Baker Elementary School.

The second witness said Matar had touched her inappropriately as well, and said it was also under her clothing. She said the incident happened once in the computer lab.

The third girl told the jury that Matar had “touched her private parts” multiple times. She said he also had her sit on his lap often, and said the incidents had mostly happened in the cafeteria.

While the three girls were testifying, the families chose to leave the courtroom. Smith rested the prosecution’s case after the girls’ testimonies Wednesday. Defense attorneys began presenting their case late Wednesday and continued Thursday.

The other witness called to the stand Wednesday was the detective who questioned Matar when he was first arrested in May 2014 on suspicion of raping the five-year-old girl. The jury watched the nearly three hour interrogation video, where at first Matar denied touching the girl, then said he did touch her, but it was on accident.

Defense attorney Justin Hurst said he is asking the jury to look at the evidence and not jump to conclusions.

“We feel good. Ali feels good. His spirits are good, and he’s very confident,” Hurst said. “He’s maintained faith in the system that we have,  and he thinks at the end of the day, the truth will come out.”

The defense began calling witnesses at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Hurst called two forensic specialists with the Arkansas State Crime Lab to the stand. Both specialists testified that they did not find any DNA in the five-year-old girl’s underwear.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys said they expect the trial to end Thursday afternoon.

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