Molly’s father thought they would lose it all
DURING the TV interview aired after the verdict was announced, Tom Martens invoked the raw and emotional power of fatherly devotion to justify killing his son-in-law so savagely. ‘I would challenge any reasonable man, much less a reasonable father, to say this was unnecessary force,’ said the former FBI agent. ‘I used the force that was necessary to end the threat. That’s what I was trained to do for over 31 years, end the deadly threat.’
The jury begged to differ, viewing Mr Martens’s definition of necessary force as being on the extreme end of the spectrum. They may also have judged Martens’s pride in his daughter as a bit excessive, for no more than the blood-stained brick resting on Molly’s bedside table can the ties that bound them together be ignored.
Like all daughters, Molly will always be her daddy’s little girl but that primal bond changes as the child becomes an adult.
But what happened in their case. Was Daddy’s love as selfless as he pretends? And did Molly ever really stand on her own two feet?
Had Tom Martens been more clear-sighted about his troubled daughter, then he might still be at liberty, Jason Corbett might still be alive and Molly might be receiving medical treatment rather than being locked up for the best years of her life.
He is not to blame for the bad marriage. But if Molly Martens sowed the seeds of marital disharmony with her deluded expectations, then her father’s indulgence kept them watered and sprouting.
IN COURT he said he didn’t believe the Limerick man was good enough for his princess, yet other than reports of rowdy friends and cursing, he could offer no plausible reason for complaint. Jason’s only crime was providing Molly with all the material comforts she could desire.
A big house in an affluent neighbourhood, a swanky BMW, a joint bank account brimming with funds, two ready-made children to shower with love and care.
Jason even moved from his native Limerick to North Carolina to make her happy and gave a handsome contribution to the wedding expenses.
Not bad going for a twentysomething woman with no education or training to speak of, no means of making a crust other than as a nanny or waitress.
A realistic parent would pinch themselves at their rudderless daughter landing so spectacularly on her feet, while hoping against hope that her mood swings wouldn’t cause the marriage to suffer.
Molly’s fragility, her mental health problems that started in adolescence, the bills for psychiatric hospital and doctors – it must all have been a great source of anxiety to Tom and his wife.
Once she was wed, though, her welfare became Jason Corbett’s problem – not theirs.
If Tom resented his son -in-law, it was not because the Irishman’s friends didn’t speak like Hugh Grant, but perhaps because he didn’t enjoy the feeling of being in his debt. Gradually, his feelings turned to anger and fear as Jason refused to budge about Molly adopting the children, his daughter became increasingly unhappy and her husband began to make plans to return home to Ireland without her.
THE writing was on the wall for the marriage – and Tom may have become terrified of what would happen to Molly, stripped of the stability of family life, ever more at the mercy of her unhinged personality. In his mid-60s, he and his wife would resume responsibility for an erratic daughter who would surely flounder in a deluge of selfpity and rage for the end of her marriage.
When Tom Martens struck out at defenceless Jason, he released a toxic mix of emotions.
But, contrary to his claims, these emotions had nothing to do with protecting his daughter – and everything to do with punishing a man for planning to walk out on them.