THE woman accused of killing Limerick man Jason Corbett has claimed that his children told social workers that they saw him physically abuse her.
In papers filed with a US court, Molly Martens, who is charged with second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter of her 39 year-old husband, alleges that that Jack (11) and SarahCorbett (9) told a therapist and social worker of the alleged abuse.
Ms Martens and her father, retired FBI agent Thomas Martens (66), are claiming self-defence in the case which is related to the death of Jason Corbett last August.
It is alleged that Thomas Martens hit Jason Corbett with a baseball bat and a paving stone because he claimed that he was choking Molly in the home they shared in North Carolina.
Their claims have been strongly denied by the Corbett family.
A post to the ‘Bring Justice for Jason’ Facebook page on Tuesday read; “if beating him to a pulp on August 2nd 2015 was not enough, they have ceaselessly and in the most vile ways tried to blacken and batter his good name and his character.”
Jason’s sister Tracey said that “Lies are just a temporary delay to the inevitable, Truth always wins and love will sustain us.
Three weeks ago, Molly Marten’s legal team sought to exclude from the trial a video interview conducted with Jack on May 27 on the grounds that it was hearsay and unreliable. They claimed it was an attempt to contradict statements made by Jack in the immediate aftermath of the killing of his father.
The court papers filed by the Martens lawyers say that Jack and Sarah were at the home of Molly’s brother Robert Martens when officers from the Davidson County Department of Social Services arranged to interview the children separately after the case was referred to them by the County Sheriff.
US news outlets have reported the court papers as stating that; “Each child reported similar incidents of verbal and physical abuse by Jason Corbett inflicted upon Molly”.
The defence team say that the videotaped interview from last May is inadmissible and is in sharp contrast to the interviews conducted immediately after Jason’s death.
The hearing was adjourned to August 8.
