Thomas Martens will be out of prison by the summer, predicts lawyer

Thomas Martens, who last week pleaded guilty to the voluntary manslaughter of Limerick man Jason Corbett, will be out of prison by next summer, his lawyer has forecast.

Mr Martens along with his daughter Molly Martens were on Wednesday sentenced to between 51 and 74 months in prison for killing Mr Corbett at his home near Winston Salem in North Carolina in August 2015.

However, the judge said they would receive credit for the 44 months they spent in prison following their conviction for second-degree murder in 2017 that was later quashed by an appeals court.

Ms Martens had not contested a charge of voluntary manslaughter in relation to the death of her husband.

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Meanwhile, the Corbett family said on Wednesday night that although they may not be satisfied with the sentencing, they wanted to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of local police and the district attorney in Davidson county in North Carolina.

Speaking after the sentence was handed down on Wednesday evening, Jay Vannoy, counsel for Mr Martens, predicted that his client would be released from prison in seven months time given the credit for the time he has already served.

Mr Vannoy described the 51-month sentence as “just”.

He said Mr Martens understood the sentence and accepted it.

Asked about his client’s reaction on being sent back to jail, he said that Mr Martens had replied: “Look after my family.”

Mr Vannoy said it was hard for Ms Martens to listen to a powerful and emotional victim impact statement delivered to the court by Jack and Sarah Corbett, the children of Mr Corbett with his first wife Margaret Corbett, who died in 2006.

He said Ms Corbett had done her best to raise the children and that it was difficult for her to hear Jack Corbett maintain that she had hurt him. Mr Vannoy said that he did not believe that.

Jack Corbett in his statement to the court had maintained: “From the age of four to ten years of age – I was taught how to lie and manipulate people by Molly Martens. During this time, I was abused by Molly Martens in every way you can imagine and then some.”

He urged the judge not to be fooled “by this mask of civility of Molly Martens”.

“There is a monster lurking underneath the exterior. She systematically broke me down and drip fed me untruths.

“Molly Martens needs to be locked away for as long as possible so she cannot do this to another family, Another child. It is my biggest fear and gives me nightmares. She will do it again if she finds the opportunity,” Jack Corbett said in his statement.

Sarah Corbett in her statement said: “Molly Martens tried to destroy me and my family. She turned me and my brother against each other, being nice to one of us one day and awful the next day, making us compete for her love.

“When I was five years old, Molly Martens began her mind games. What kind of mother tells a five-year-old girl that her father killed her birth mom?”

She said that Ms Martens hit her brother Jack and used starvation as a weapon to punish them.

“There were many times where I had to drag Molly off Jack, she was hitting him so much. One time, she was hitting him so hard that I jumped on her back using all my body weight to pull her off him but she grabbed me and threw me to the floor and started screaming at us both.

“Her way of punishment was starvation – she just wouldn’t feed us if we did something wrong like, for example, not swimming fast enough in our heat. She would stop speaking to us or turn to violence.”

Speaking on Wednesday, the Corbett family said: “While this is not a moment for celebration for us, we can still find a path to move forward with our lives. Jack and Sarah have at last had the chance to communicate unencumbered and without hindrances.”