Your morning briefing: Molly Martens and father agree plea deal, Denise Morgan memorial and shock after man injured by Garda car

Molly Martens feared Jason Corbett killed first wife, counsel tells US court, amid plea deal

Molly Martens believed that her husband Jason Corbett had killed his first wife and was fearful that the same fate would befall her, a court in North Carolina has been told.

The claim was made by Douglas Kingsberry, defence counsel for Ms Martens, at the beginning of a hearing to determine the sentences that she and her father, Thomas Martens, will receive in relation to the killing of Mr Corbett in 2015.

On Monday the court was told that Molly Martens and Thomas Martens had agreed a plea deal with prosecutors to accept a lesser manslaughter charge over the killing of Mr Corbett.

Top News Stories

• Molly Martens case: Court drama behind pleas of voluntary manslaughter of Jason Corbett: More than eight years have passed since Jack and Sarah Corbett Lynch were woken by police officers shortly after 3am on August 2nd, 2015. Told to cover their eyes, Jack (10) and Sarah (8), were taken from their bedrooms down the stairs of their North Carolina home, past the ground-floor master bedroom, where their father, Jason Corbett (39) was beaten to death with a baseball bat and a brick.
• Coalition considers exemptions to plans to time limit supports for Ukrainian refugees: Plans to time limit supports for Ukrainian refugees may be softened under measures being examined by Government which could see a series of exemptions to the new rules.
• ‘My son came here at 18 with a dream - now I’m going to take him home at 23 without one of his legs’: The friends and family of a Brazilian Deliveroo rider who lost part of his right leg after being seriously injured on the M50 in Dublin by a Garda vehicle have described their shock at the incident.
• Review of hundreds of scans ordered at Letterkenny hospital after 37% error rate identified: Hundreds of scans are being reviewed at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH) after an internal check found more than one-third of a locum radiologist’s work contained errors.
• Dublin’s markets area to be revitalised ahead of Victorian market reopening: The revitalisation of the area around Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market, with the extension of pedestrianisation from Capel Street, and the upgrade of parks and roads, is planned in advance of the reopening of the market.
• Irish woman killed in New York murder-suicide was ‘a friend to many’, memorial told: “We’d take each other’s clothes all the time. My wardrobe was full of her stuff, and when she left for America, I remember looking at her suitcase, thinking: ‘Hey, half of that is mine!’”
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• Ireland’s weather today: Rain will continue in Ulster this morning, with spot flooding. It will clear slowly northwards today. Mist and fog in many areas will gradually clear. Rain will develop in the southwest in the late morning and spread northeastwards through the afternoon and evening with a chance of spot flooding. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees with freshening southeasterly winds.
• Flooding affects homes from Wexford to Newry ahead of Storm Ciarán: Flooding has affected homes across the country as two separate rain warnings have been issued by the Met Office and Met Éireann.

Israel-Hamas conflict

• Israeli special forces free hostage as ground offensive results in localised clashes: Israeli special forces, operating in Gaza on Sunday night, freed a woman soldier hostage. Private Ori Megidish was serving as a lookout on the Gaza border when she was seized by Hamas gunmen who stormed into southern Israel on October 7th, killing 1,400 people.
• Analysis: Biden’s support for Israel transcends scripted talking points, it’s deeply personal: One morning during a spasm of violence two decades ago, with suicide bombings shattering Israel every other day, the King David Hotel in Jerusalem seemed eerily empty. Foreigners were staying away. Nobody was in the diningroom. Except for two people having breakfast: US senator Joe Biden and his aide, Antony Blinken.

The best from Opinion

• Israel can take Gaza. But it cannot leave it: In his history of a Roman invasion of northern Britain, Tacitus gives the Caledonian chieftain Calgacus a famous speech. Of the Romans, he says “They make a desert and call it ‘peace’.” This is not meant to be an instruction manual. But Israel seems to be treating it as one. It will, after many thousands more civilians have died, eventually declare peace in a blood-soaked wasteland of rubble and dust, writes Fintan O’Toole.

News from around the World

• Ukraine-Russia war: At least two people killed and 12 injured as heavy fighting rages: At least two people have been killed and 12 injured in Russian shelling and bombing of the Kherson region of southeastern Ukraine, as Moscow’s forces claimed to have repelled a wave of attacks by Kyiv’s military on targets in occupied Crimea.
• Police take control of Russia’s Dagestan airport after anti-Israeli protests: Russian police have taken over an airport in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region and arrested 60 people after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the facility on Sunday when a plane from Israel arrived, the interior ministry said on Monday.

The Big Read

• Dublin drinking water supplies over-reliant on vulnerable Liffey: The Liffey is like a big ‘U’ sitting on its right side. From its source in the Wicklow Mountains, it turns towards the plains of Co Kildare and from Leixlip goes through the most densely populated part of Ireland where environmental threats multiply until it reaches Dublin Bay.

Life & Style highlights

• How to celebrate Halloween: Remember the dead and embrace the change of seasons: Turnips, monkey nuts, barm brack, pumpkin spice lattes? There are plenty of ways to celebrate Halloween.

Today's Business

• Web Summit appoints Katherine Maher as new chief executive: Web Summit has named Katherine Maher as new chief executive, as the events company prepares for its conference in Lisbon in two weeks’ time.
• Consumer sentiment boosted by supports in Budget 2024: Irish consumer sentiment improved modestly in October as support measures rolled out in Budget 2024 made consumers a little less gloomy about their household finances, according to a consumer sentiment report.

Top Sports news

• Gerry Thornley’s Rugby World Cup team of the tournament: Best try, highs and lows from across the games and the most memorable quotes from seven weeks in France 2023.
• Analysis: Resilient South Africa made their point in no uncertain manner: France 2023 began in stifling, 36/37 degree late summer heat, passed through autumn and finished in incessant rain after the clocks went forward into winter time. Whatever about it being the best it was certainly a marathon.
• Kiladangan players ‘thrown under the bus’ by Tipperary manager Liam Cahill, says club captain: Victorious Tipperary hurling championship captain Alan Flynn has claimed he and his Kiladangan teammates were “thrown under the bus” by county boss Liam Cahill.

Picture of the Day

Letters to the Editor

Halloween sugar monsters

Hot school meals: A close look at the ingredients list is not pretty. This is industrial food

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Four-bed period house and mews a short walk from Greystones for €975,000

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Have your say on ‘quiet quitting’: Do you feel pressure to work long hours?

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Is the landlord or management company responsible for upgrading our windows?

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Sir, – There are ways for everyone to enjoy the Samhain festival with less harmful sugar options and be conscious of the amount and frequency of the sugar they consume. The World Health Organisation recommends no more than six teaspoons of “free sugars” per day for ages two to 18 years (approx 24g in total).

When we eat, acid is produced in our mouth to help break down the food. Carbonated drinks and sweet treats increase the acidic environment, causing an “acid attack” on gums and teeth that can lead to dental disease. The frequency of sweet snacking increases this risk, bathing teeth in sugar and giving bacteria more time to weaken enamel.

Sweets that include anything gooey and sugar-coated can stick to teeth, even dried fruit has a high sugar content! (A child’s small raisin snack box has 24g of sugar.) The usual suspects include hard chew toffees that can coat teeth, sour sweets that can erode enamel, and lollipops or sucking sweets that take a longer time to dissolve in your mouth. Better treat options include popcorn, chocolate (dark is even better), which has less sugar and is easier to brush off teeth than sticky candy, or a piece of fresh fruit!

Parents can encourage children to eat their sweet stash over several weeks, at mealtimes, when other foods can help wash away sugar and bacteria along with a cup of water to clean their mouth as they go. Chocolate is also great in the freezer, so no need to eat it all at once. And don’t forget a good brush and floss before bedtime to keep the sugar monsters away! Happy Halloween. – Yours, etc,

ORLAITH KENNEDY, Chief executive officer, Dental Health Foundation Ireland

Video & Podcast Highlights

• In The News Podcast: The kidnapping of Don Tidey: a bloody wake-up call for the State

Book Review of the Day

• A People’s History of Football by Mickaël Correia: Making case for the sport as a progressive social force: Football fans, famously, have only two emotional registers: dewy-eyed romanticism and cynical fatalism, writes Houman Barekat.

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