A Duplin County man will serve at least 17 years in prison for breaking into the home of an elderly, disabled woman in Teachey and raping her in March 2008, a conviction District Attorney Dewey Hudson said was just for a crime he called “outrageous.”

Alexander McKenzie Newkirk, 25, of 113 Old Firehouse Road, Chinquapin, was convicted by a Duplin County jury Thursday of second degree rape and first degree burglary. Judge Russell J. Lanier Jr. sentenced the defendant to 116 to 149 months for the rape charge and an additional 90 to 117 months for the burglary offense, bringing the minimum sentence to 206 months (17 years, two months).

Newkirk has previous convictions of felonious breaking and entering, simple assault, communicating threats and driving while impaired, all in Duplin, according to the N.C. Department of Corrections.

According to testimony at trial, during the early morning hours of March 4, 2008, Newkirk broke into a residence on Providence Church Road in the Teachey area of Duplin. Once inside, the defendant raped the 67-year-old female occupant, who lived alone and was physically disabled from a fall suffered in late 2007. Eyewitnesses testified that the defendant, a friend of one of the victim’s grandchildren, was at the scene of the crime around the time it took place.

Duplin County Sheriff’s authorities responded to investigate and, during a search, sheriff’s detective Andrew Hanchey found what he believed to be sperm on a bed pad near the victim’s bed, according to his testimony. The bed pad had been placed there just hours earlier, testimony showed.

The bed pad was sent to the State Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Raleigh for DNA testing. SBI agents who work at the lab testified that the substance on the pad was sperm, and that it matched the defendant to “a scientific certainty.” Experts testified that the probability of the sperm coming from anyone else was “one in 40 and a half quadrillion.”

Hudson said he was pleased with the convictions handed down in the case, prosecuted by assistant district attorney Bob Roupe. The punishment fit the crime, the district attorney said.

“The jury in this case sent a message to Duplin County that this sort of outrageous conduct will not be tolerated,” Hudson remarked. “This defendant has demonstrated that he is a danger to our community and that he needs to be incarcerated for the safety of our community. The Duplin County Sheriff’s Office, Detective Hanchey in particular, is to be commended for its investigate work in this case.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.