Irish Daily Mail August 9th
GUILTY: MOLLY TAKEN AWAY IN CHAINS
HOW A TRANSATLANTIC LOVE AFFAIR ENDED IN MURDER
JASON Corbett’s family broke down in tears yesterday... on a dramatic day that saw his widow and her father found guilty of killing him, sentenced to up to 25 years in prison – and eventually led away in chains for his brutal killing. Finally free to express themselves openly, the Corbetts told of the pain inflicted on them by Molly and Tom Martens. In one powerful hand-written victim impact statement, Jason’s ten-year-old son Jack said Molly ‘would be remembered as a murderer’. He added that the burden she had put on him and his family would not be lifted until she was ‘put away’. Jason was beaten to death inside his family home in Wallburg, North Carolina. Molly, 33, collapsed into tears when the jury found her and her 67-year-old father, a former FBI agent, guilty of the second-degree murder of her Limerick husband on August 2, 2015. Sobbing, she turned to her family in the public gallery and said: ‘I’m really sorry Mom. I wish he’d [referring to Jason] have killed me.’ She and her father were sentenced to a minimum of 20 years and a maximum of 25 years. But with good behaviour they could be out up to seven years earlier.
RTE News August 9th 2017
Tracey Lynch statement following trhe convition of Molly and Tom Marten's
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1775749399120721
The Dispatch August 9th 2017
Jason Corbett’s sister, Tracey Lynch, speaks to media outlets after the trial ended with guilty verdicts on Wednesday.
Irish Mirror August 10th 2017
Victim’s family tell of relief that two-year ordeal is finally over
A SMILE appeared on the face of Jason Corbett’s twin brother as multiple text messages confirming the jury’s verdicts came through to his phone. Pausing briefly, Wayne Corbett took a deep breath as he absorbed the dramatic moment. Speaking at his parents’ home in Janesboro, Limerick, he said: “It’s been a long two years. “We’re just delighted as a family that the whole ordeal is over and done with and they have been found guilty.” The moment, Wayne agreed, was “bittersweet”. He added: “We’re delighted it’s finally at an end. It’s not a celebration — Jason is still gone — but finally people have been found guilty, and justly so, for murdering Jason.” His 76-year old mother Rita was too emotional to talk to reporters. Wayne added: “She’s delighted. “It’s been a great relief for my elderly parents [Rita and John] that this has finally come to an end, that we can all now grieve for Jason without having to worry about the court case. “Hopefully we can start to try to put this behind us and start to concentrate and grieve for Jason. “I’m overwhelmed [with emotion] but I’m not shocked with the verdict. I was totally confident the jury would find them guilty. “I was at the trial for three weeks and for me, it was the only conclusion they could come to.” Wayne revealed he received the initial contact from the Martens family about Jason’s death. However, he claimed the phone call made to him was 10 hours after his twin brother’s murder. Wayne said: “It’s surreal. It’s like we were living a nightmare for the past two years, ever since I personally got that phone call on August 2, 2015. “I remember walking down the road here and getting a phone call that Jason was dead.” He added the news was delivered bluntly before the line was cut. Wayne said: “When we got in touch with the police they told us he was killed from blunt-force trauma. It was 10 hours after Jason was killed that we heard. “As far as I know the police asked Molly Martens did she want them to contact us and she said no on a number of occasions.” Wayne added Martens and her father “finally got their just deserts”. He said: “Justice has been done.” Jason’s sister Tracey, along with her husband David Lynch, were granted full custody of his children Jack and Sarah following a bitter legal battle in the US before Molly and Thomas Martens were charged with murder. The kids’ mother and Jason’s first wife Margaret “Mags” Fitzpatrick tragically died of an asthma attack in 2006. He later hired Molly Martens as a nanny and they got married in 2011, but he refused to allow her to adopt his children. Wayne added the kids were being well taken care of by their family in Limerick. He added: “Our prime focus going forward is the welfare of Jack and Sarah, that’s what Mags and Jason would have wanted.”
Irish Daily Mail August 10th 2017
YEARS OF TEARS FLOW AS DIGNITY GIVES WAY TO GRIEF
AS each verdict came, two years of tears finally began to flow. Tracey Lynch was bent over, quietly sobbing. Next to her, Jason’s sister Marilyn began to break, and eventually his brother Michael. One by one their arms reached around each other, clinging tightly as quiet dignity eventually gave way to raw grief.
It had been more than two years since Jason was brutally taken from them. Two years of dignified silence. Two years comforting his orphaned children. Two years waiting for justice.
When it came, they embraced it with open arms.
They hugged each other, they hugged supporters, they hugged the prosecution team.
Over on the other side of the room, the stunned Martens family were reeling from what appeared to come as a shock result.
Sharon Martens, who was sitting a few rows back from the defence bench, was almost huddled into a ball. Her son Connor was beside her, ashen-faced and crying himself, willing her to calm down. Molly’s uncle Mike, who spoke on Tom’s behalf before he was sentenced, was shaking his head in disbelief.
The jurors, three men and nine women were crying too, watching on as the emotion of the day enveloped the loved ones in court.
Soon enough, Sheriff David Grice appeared from the wings with a set of handcuffs that he quickly placed on Molly. As she put her hands behind her back she sobbed and whimpered, looking back towards her mother.
Her father, who was cuffed minutes later, bore a look of disbelief, but still moved with an air of superiority.
He gestured to his lawyer as he was led away, briefly stopping to say something to his daughter.
The defence had requested a recess, one that would last over an hour. The prosecution was having none of it, urging Judge Lee to press ahead.
‘I would insist that both are taken into immediate custody if we recess for that length of time,’ said Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin.
In the end, Molly and Tom only got 15 minutes to gather themselves.
Soon enough, they were back before the court, listening to the heartwrenching words of Jack Corbett.
His dad’s death had been life-changing, he said in a hand-written victim impact statement.
He would never again be there to cheer him on while playing sports, he would never see him or his sister get married, he would never be there to give either of them fatherly advice.
As she listened to her stepson’s words, Molly Martens threw her head into her hands and began to cry out.
‘Molly Martens will always be remembered as the woman who killed her husband for no reason,’ wrote Jack.
‘She will be remembered as a murderer.’
There, in the voice of a ten-year-old, was the truth about Molly Martens.
She would never be a part of the Corbett family, he wrote.
She would never be forgiven for her crimes.
Irish Daily Mail August 10th 2017
‘I will never be able to give him a hug, or a present, or a card for Father’s Day’
This is the victim impact statement of Jason Corbett’s son, Jack. MY DAD’S death has been life changing for me and my family. My dad was there for me in every aspect in my life. My dad was always cheering me on in sport, school and just regular life. I don’t have that from him anymore. I always hoped that after that night that he would see me score a try in rugby, or score a goal, or just see me succeed in life.
He can’t see that anymore. He won’t be there for me if I get married or have kids. He won’t be there for me or help me when I’m down or had a rough day. He will miss everything I do in life, the good and the bad and he won’t be there to give advice. I will never be able to give him a hug or give him a present or a Father’s Day card. He won’t see me grow from a kid to a teenager and in to my adult life.
It changed my way of thinking in life. I can never go to the movies and pass a ball without feeling bad because that’s what me and my dad did. I just want to make my dad and family proud. I don’t know if I should call David dad because I don’t want my dad to be offended or feel like he was replaced.
This has affected my sister a lot as well. She knows her daddy won’t be there to walk her down the aisle.
She will never have a father-daughter dance and Sarah and my dad had been planning for ages.
My sister, Tracey, David, Dean, Adam, our family and I are not seen as we were before my dad was killed. We are seen as the family of the Irish man named Jason Corbett who was murdered by Molly Martens in his home in North Carolina, trying to make a new start, a new life for himself and his family.
That was taken away from him by a murderer named Molly Martens, who is so many bad things.
One of the things that she is not a part of and never will be is the Corbett family.
She has put this burden on our family and it won’t be lifted till she is put away, that is where she belongs.
My dad will not be forgotten. He will be remembered by his good life, how he made everyone feel good about themselves, how he was there for you if you needed him, how he always focused on the positives. How he was the best dad ever and the best friend, sister, son ever, too.
Molly Martens will not be forgotten as well. She will always be remembered as the woman who killed her husband for no reason. She will be remembered as a murderer.
PS – Adam and Dean have gone through so much as well. They have had to have a new brother and sister. They are both amazing and I’m glad they’re my new brothers.
The Irish Daily Mail 10th August 2017
The agonising ordeal faced by Jason’s grieving family to bring children home
TRACEY Lynch was on day four of a two-week family holiday in Saint-Jean-deMonts, France, when a text message beeped into her phone. The message, one she will never forget reading, was as blunt as it was cold. Her brother was dead, her sister-in-law Molly informed her, providing little further detail.
She instinctively tried to call Molly but could not get through or there was no answer. Tracey flew from France to Limerick, met her sister and best friend and the three flew onwards to North Carolina.
Inside Tracey’s hand luggage was a document that would prove crucial in the coming months – Jason’s will. In 2007, a year after his first wife tragically died, Jason Corbett made a will making Tracey, and her husband, David, legal guardians of his children Jack and Sarah, should anything happen to him. He did not change the will after he met Molly Martens. While en route to the US, Tracey and her companions were notified that arrangements were being made for Jason’s cremation. When she found out where it was due to take place, the venue was changed. Eventually, Tracey had to hire a lawyer to stop the cremation from going ahead.By the time they reached North Carolina, Tracey was not allowed. Had to hire lawyer to stop cremation. to entry her brother’s house at Panther Creek Court and she also struggled for days for permission to see her brother’s remains.Despite all of this, the main concern was for the children, Jack and Sarah. Having lost their mother, who died of an asthma attack when they were both under the age of two, now their beloved father was gone, too.Since Jason’s death, they had been with their stepmother, Molly. Before she got to the US, two days after Jason’s death, Tracey got to speak to Jack on the phone. According to court documents, Molly Martens later claimed that Tracey told the boy that she was flying out to the US for him and Sarah. Molly filed for custody of the two children by 9.51am the next day, marking the beginning of a string of custody battles that dragged on for over a year.
Following Jason’s death, his family were forced to suspend their grief for almost three weeks while the children’s guardians – their aunt and uncle, Tracey and David Lynch – on one side and stepmother, Molly Martens, on the other, fought for custody. In the middle of this turmoil, on August 11, Jason Corbett’s body was repatriated to Ireland. But his parents, Rita and John, and siblings refused to lay him to rest in the absence of Jack and Sarah
Irish Mirror August 10th 2017
She’ll always be remembered as a MURDERER
After verdict
THE young son of slain Irishman Jason Corbett yesterday blasted his killer stepmother. As Molly Martens and her father Thomas were jailed for 20 to 25 years, 13-year-old Jack Corbett said in a letter to the court: “She will always be remembered as a murderer.” A jury in the US convicted the pair of the second-degree murder of the 39-year-old Limerick man. As she was led away in handcuffs, Molly, 33, sobbed: “I’m really sorry mom – I wish they’d just kill me.”
Irish Daily Mail August 11th 2017
MOLLY REMAINED SILENT IN COURT, BUT GAVE US TV AN INTERVIEW...
MOLLY Martens and her father recorded a pre-trial interview with a US TV station, in which they recount their ‘version’ of Jason Corbett’s murder. Ms Martens told ABC News 20/20 that she didn’t want to talk about hitting Jason with a brick, but said it was ‘horrible’ her father ended up in court over her husband’s killing. The Martens claim on the show – which airs in the US tonight – that they were acting in self-defence. In the interview, Tom said: ‘I’m going to do everything that I have to do to save her life. And if I die trying, well… she’s my daughter. I’m not going to live with not trying. I’ll tell you that.’ Molly, 33, sobs on camera as she says: ‘I was sure that he was going to kill my father.’ She claims she was woken up on the fateful night by Jason’s daughter Sarah at around 3am.‘She’d had a nightmare, and she came down. And the kids were not supposed to come in the room, you know, and wake up Jason. ‘So they would just kind of stand outside the door and whisper until I heard ’em. So I heard her calling me. And I got up as quietly as I could and tiptoed up to her room.’ Molly claimed she got Sarah back to bed and returned to her room, trying not to wake her husband. ‘But he woke up, and he was angry, and he wanted to know why I’d gotten up. Then he was furious because Sarah had been doing this lately and, you know, she just wanted to be coddled. And she was too old for that, and I shouldn’t have gotten out of bed.
‘I said, “She’s just eight. She had a nightmare. I should be allowed to go upstairs and comfort our daughter”. He forgot my parents were there, and he, you know, just got angry with me.’
Tom told ABC: ‘I don’t know what precisely woke me up, but what I heard were loud voices and a kind of thumping, like heavy feet moving around. It was coming from the floor above me. It was in the dead of the morning, and it wasn’t right. Something bad was going on.’
Molly said Jason wanted to make her be quiet so he covered her mouth and started choking her.
‘At some point, when he stopped, I screamed, and he started again, and the next thing I remember is my dad standing in the doorway.’ Tom Martens had the bat in his hand at this stage. The father said: ‘He quickly moves to not having his hands around her neck, but to move her in front of him in between me… with her throat right in front of the crook of his elbow, and so he’s got her in a chokehold.
‘I said, “Let her go”. And he said, “I’m going to kill her”. Then he starts to edge toward the master bathroom, which has a door. And my thought was: “If he gets into the bathroom, if he gets that door between me and him, then she’s dead. And there’s nothing I can do about it”.
‘And so I reached around to his left, and my right – I’m right-handed – with the baseball bat. I hit him in the back of the head with the baseball bat.’ Tom Martens said that, after the blow, Jason kept dragging Molly towards the bathroom. The father said he was able to get into the bathroom with Jason and hit him again with the baseball bat. ‘I hit him hard on the back of the head again. He’s still got her by the throat, but he changes tactics. He decides to come back at me, and I’m swinging the bat, and he catches the bat in his hand.’ Molly said: ‘Jason just grabbed the bat away. It was like it was nothing. He could choke me with one hand – with one arm – and grab the bat with the other. He was just so much stronger.
‘He grabs the bat and, you know, pushes my dad.’
Molly said she then screamed at her husband not to hurt her father. ‘I thought: “He’s going to hit my dad with the bat, and that’s it… he’s going to kill my father”.
‘So I rush him and I grab the bat with two hands, and I hang on for dear life. We’re struggling back and forth now four hands on the bat...
‘I’m trying’ to hit him with the bat, and hit him with this end of the bat, and hit him with my elbow, and hit him with my fist, or anything else... but I’m going to hang onto that bat.
‘And he goes down, and I’ve got the bat... and I back off.’
Tom Martens said he realised Jason was not going to get up: ‘It looks like the threat is over, so I tell Molly, “We need to call 911”.’
Molly said she was told in a patrol car that her husband was dead. ‘We gave separate statements and I was told, “Don’t worry. It looks like selfdefence. It’s going to be okay”.’
Molly said that it was ‘horrible’ Tom had ended up in court over the death.
‘It makes me feel like I’ve ruined his life. That I’ve impacted my whole family. And it’s not a good feeling.’
Thomas insisted: ‘I didn’t murder my son-in-law. And I would challenge any reasonable man, much less a reasonable father, to say that this was unnecessary force.
‘I used the force that was necessary to end the threat.’