Jason Corbett’s son in poignant tribute to his late parents
THE son of murdered Limerick man Jason Corbett has been hailed as ‘brave’ after he dedicated a song he sang online to his late father and mother.
Going under the name Jack C Lynch, the 14-year-old paid the loving tribute after he sang the song Dancing In The Sky by Canadian duo Dani and Lizzy.
He dedicated the tune to his ‘Mam & Dad, Mags & Jason Corbett, and to anybody out there who has lost a parent’.
Jack and his sister Sarah, 12, currently live with their legal guardians – Mr Corbett’s sister Tracey Lynch and her husband David – in Limerick.
Jason, 39, was found with fatal head injuries at the home he shared with his second wife Molly Martens in Walburg, North Carolina, US, on August 2, 2015.
Martens, 34, and her father Tom, 68, a retired FBI agent, were convicted in August last year of the second-degree murder of the father of two.
Jack and Sarah were in the house at the time of their father’s death. Their mother Mags had died from an asthma attack in 2006.
Molly Martens first met Jason when she moved to Limerick from the US, to become his children’s nanny following his first wife’s death. The American woman subsequently married him in 2011.
The song by Jack was shared by the Facebook support page Jason’s Journey, which was set up days after Mr Corbett’s death.
Tracey Lynch also posted the song on her page, stating: ‘Here is our son dedicating dancing in the sky to his Mam and Dad in Heaven. I am so proud of you Jack. We will never forget those we have lost, we don’t want to.
‘Along with the greatest sadness of missing them lives a galaxy of gratitude for having shared love with them. Our connections shaped our lives and we will always miss you Jason and Mags.’
Hundreds of people reacted to Jack’s singing, with one saying, ‘Fabulous Jack, well done, such a brilliant and inspiration to everyone, your Mam and Dad are smiling down on you proud as punch, keep up the good work lad and well done Tracey and Dave for doing such a great job with him.’
Another added: ‘Wow Jack. You brought me to tears. Well done you. So brave. You are so thoughtful just like your dad. I had the pleasure of hanging around with him. He was an amazing person and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. You have a fantastic family around you and a lot of people that love you kiddo.’
The Martenses’ trial, which took place in Lexington, Davidson County, heard in the summer of last year that Mr Corbett, a company manager, was bludgeoned to death with a paving stone kept on Molly’s night stand. An aluminium youth baseball bat, weighing less than half a kilo, was also used up to 12 times in the incident by Mr Martens, who claimed he was trying to get Jason to release his stranglehold on Molly.
The father and daughter claimed they acted in self-defence, and it emerged yesterday that Tom Martens intends to argue that it was ‘unfair’ of a judge not to allow him to enter specific statements in support of his self-defence claim.
The claim by Tom and Molly Martens that they acted in self defence during the killing was rejected in US court documents last month. The documents were lodged by North Carolina state prosecutors in response to appeals by the father and daughter against their convictions.
The Corbett family firmly believe Jason was attacked and killed because he planned to move back to Ireland with his two children due to concerns over the increasingly bizarre behaviour of Ms Martens, who had a history of mental health issues.
‘Never forget those we’ve lost’