Corbett children ‘want their voices to be heard’ in Martens retrial

Jack and Sarah with their guardian Tracey Corbett-Lynch. Photo: Don Moloney

Molly Martens

Jack and Sarah with their guardian Tracey Corbett-Lynch. Photo: Don Moloney

Molly Martens

Ralph Riegel Twitter Email

March 24 2021 02:30 AM

The children of murdered Irish businessman Jason Corbett (39) want “to have their voices heard” by offering evidence at any US retrial of killers Tom (71) and Molly (37) Martens.

In a dramatic boost to North Carolina prosecutors, Jack and Sarah Corbett-Lynch have expressed their willingness to offer testimony at any retrial if disputed statements they made are relied on by the defence legal teams.

The children’s statements were made to social workers at Dragonfly House in Davidson County in the days after the brutal killing of their father on August 2, 2015. They were later key to a successful challenge by the father and daughter to their second-degree murder convictions and 20- to 25-year prison terms. Both Molly and Tom Martens now face release from North Carolina prisons by April 2 pending any retrial.

Judge David Lee at the trial in 2017 refused to allow the defence legal teams to enter the children’s statements into evidence. This was because the children made contradictory statements – totally refuting what was in the North Carolina statements – just days after returning to Ireland in August 2015.

But Mr Corbett’s two children – now aged 16 and 14 – have offered to give rebuttal evidence at any retrial.

The children’s guardian, Tracey Corbett-Lynch, along with her family, has spearheaded a courageous campaign for justice for her late brother.

“Jack and Sarah are both adamant and determined to be given the opportunity to testify,” she said.

“I have done everything in my power to protect them from this very thing. It is very, very difficult as a parent.

“The children have always been taught that their voices are important.

“Now they are determined to have their voices heard.”

Jack is a talented rugby player and singer, while Sarah wrote a best-selling book aged just 12 about coping with grief and loss.

She is also an accomplished singer, dancer and aspiring actress.

The extended Corbett and Lynch family have done everything to shield the two children from the shock retrial decision.

However, Sarah acknowledged in a social media post the impact it had on her life and that of her Irish family.

“You took my dad’s life – you destroyed mine, you coached me to lie and told the world it was the truth. How can people in power not see this? I was eight and now you get to break down my whole life again,” she posted.

Margaret ‘Mags’ Fitzpatrick, their Irish mother, died in 2006 after suffering a severe asthma attack in Limerick.

Mr Corbett met Ms Martens when she moved to Ireland to work as a nanny for the two children almost two years later.

After making the North Carolina statements in August 2015, the two children were returned to the custody of the Martens family.

They were returned to Ireland only after Tracey and her husband, David Lynch, won a high-profile custody battle in Davidson County.

Davidson County District Attorney Garry Frank said he would now take some time to evaluate the North Carolina Supreme Court judgment, key evidential issues arising and the logistics of any proposed retrial.

Mr Frank said he was confident a second conviction could be secured in the event of a retrial.