THE family of Irish man Jason Corbett who was found fatally injured in his US home last month has been left with a massive legal bill after launching a court battle for custody of his two young children.
Limerick relatives of the 39-year-old, who was bludgeoned to death in his North Carolina home in the early hours of August 2, have been given a bill reportedly totalling over €130,000.
Shortly after Mr Corbett’s death, which police say took place during a “domestic incident”, his sister Tracey Lynch launched a successful legal bid to secure guardianship of his children, 10-year-old Jack and Sarah, aged nine.
The youngsters, who had lived in America for four years after emigrating from Limerick, were present last week when their father was buried alongside their mother Mags in a Limerick cemetery.
Mr Corbett’s first wife had died from an asthma attack in 2006 when Sarah was an infant and Jack was a toddler.
A series of events are set to take place over the coming weeks in Limerick to help raise funds towards paying the family’s legal fees. However, the bill will continue to soar if the children’s stepmother Molly Martens goes ahead with her plan to seek the children’s return to the US.
Davidson County Sherriff’s Office, which is conducting the investigation into Mr Corbett’s death, has described Ms Martens, who married her husband after working as a nanny for his children, and her father Thomas Martens, as “persons of interest”.
A grand jury is expected to decide next week if criminal charges are to be brought in the case.
Mr Martens, who works as a counter-intelligence officer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been placed on administrative leave while the police probe continues.
A police incident report has revealed that Mr Martens made a 911 call to emergency services on the night his son-in-law died, saying the two men had an argument and that he had struck Mr Corbett with a baseball bat.
The Martens’ lawyer David Friedman has insisted that the father and daughter will plead not guilty if any murder or manslaughter charges are brought against them.
Meanwhile, Ms Martens is continuing to post pictures and messages to her stepchildren on a Facebook page, sending a greeting to Sarah yesterday wishing her a happy birthday and recalling previous celebrations at their Winston-Salem home.
The Martens family has confirmed that they intend to appeal a decision by a judge at Lexington District Court a fortnight ago to allow Ms Lynch to return to Ireland with her niece and nephew.
