The family of Limerick man Jason Corbett have spoken out about the “malevolent, cruel and vicious” actions by his wife Molly Martens and her father Tom Martens, who are to be released from their respective prisons in North Carolina on Thursday having served their sentence for his voluntary manslaughter.
“The heinous actions of Tom and Molly Martens not only took Jason’s life in a malevolent, cruel and vicious manner but they also set about to tarnish his reputation and use his children in a self-serving attempt to evade accountability,” they said through a statement issued on the eve of the Martens’ release. They were also condemnatory of how Molly Martens had behaved towards Mr Corbett’s children after their father’s death.
“Molly Martens relentlessly put Jack and Sarah into the centre of her bid to evade justice with a web of lies while refusing to take the stand to give evidence herself. Her cruelty, disregard and treatment of two children under 10 years of age whose birth mother had died, father she had just beaten to death and whom she professed to love was inhumane. Despite the gravity of their crime and the immense loss they inflicted, they will be freed today after serving just four years and three months.”
The Martens accepted a plea deal in which they admitted to voluntary manslaughter in October of last year, a week before a new trial on charges of second-degree murder had been due to begin. The defendants had been found guilty in the original trial when Molly Martens was sentenced to 20 years and her father, Tom, a former FBI agent, given a 25 year term. That verdict was overturned on appeal by the North Carolina Supreme Court in 2021.
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Mr Corbett moved to North Carolina in 2011 after his marriage to Molly Martens, with whom he began a relationship after she moved to Limerick to work as an au pair for his two young children in 2008. Their birth mother had died after an asthma attack in 2006. He had prospered in his work-place and was described by district attorney Garry Frank as a “beloved” figure in his adopted community. In the early hours of August 2nd, 2015, Mr Corbett suffered catastrophic injuries after an incident in the family home, in which he was attacked by his wife and father-in-law and sustained injuries that killed him. The defendants acknowledged that they had carried out the attack but through their defence counsels argued in both the original trial and the sentence hearing that they had acted in self-defence, a claim the Corbett family and the state prosecutors vehemently rejected.
“Their lack of remorse for the irreparable harm caused to Jason’s children, whom they callously orphaned, is a stark reminder to all of their callous disregard for human life and decency,” the statement from Mr Corbett’s family continued.
“Throughout the protracted legal proceedings, they prioritised their own interests over the profound suffering they inflicted upon innocent children. Justice is twofold for criminals like Tom and Molly Martens. While they may have completed the court-mandated sentence, they now carry the enduring burden of their actions - forever knowing they extinguished a noble life. We know that they know the truth. Soon the world will know the entire truth. Their legacy is one of undeniable guilt, exposed to an intelligent public who when they look at the facts and evidence acknowledge their malevolent deeds on August 2, 2015, without the shield of legal technicalities.”
Mr Corbett’s two children returned to Ireland after their father’s death to live with family in Liverpool and the statement concluded by taking comfort in the fact that both have become “exceptional individuals” despite the enduring trauma and heartbreak.
“As Jason’s family, we vow to tirelessly uphold his honourable legacy and seek justice to preserve his memory. Amidst this sombre occasion, we draw solace from witnessing Jack and Sarah, the remarkable children Jason left behind, blossom into exceptional individuals he would undoubtedly be proud of.”
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