WE ALL STAYED SILENT DURING DEADLY FIGHT – WHAT MOLLY’S DAD TOLD JURY

‘I’m trying to take responsibility’ She had a ‘strong, personality’

TOM Martens and his daughter did not immediately attempt to resuscitate Jason Corbett despite their training in CPR, it has emerged in court.

In evidence, Mr Martens told the court he, Jason and Molly did not utter a word during the life and death struggle in the couple’s bedroom.

The witness said all three remained ‘silent’ after he initially asked Jason to ‘let her go’ in the room. They did not speak at all while the fight continued into the hall, through the bathroom, back into the hall and again into the bedroom, Mr Martens said.

In relation to his wife, Sharon Martens, who was in a downstairs bedroom while the alleged battle between himself and Jason Corbett was occurring upstairs, he said that she did not ‘come running up’ to see what was going on. This was despite the loud noises created w when Jason threw Mr Martens to the floor and when Mr Corbett himself fell to the ground due to blows.

During cross-examination by Greg Brown, prosecuting, Mr Martens said that despite his CPR training he did not try to resuscitate Jason until an emergency operator told him to.

‘I have training,’ Mr Martens told the court. ‘But I was never certified in CPR.’ He confirmed that Molly was indeed certified in CPR.

‘Prior to calling 911, neither you or your daughter started to perform CPR on Jason Corbett is that correct?,’ asked Greg Brown.

‘That is correct,’ Mr Martens replied. He was asked if he was ‘trying to take the blame for his daughter,’ to which he replied no. ‘I’m trying to take responsibility for what I did’, he told the court.

‘I’m trying to tell as truthfully as I can what I did.’

A court also heard that Mr Martens ‘can’t remember’ if he washed his face and hands after killing Jason Corbett.

Mr Martens told the court that he suffered ‘scrapes’ to his knees when Jason Corbett pushed him to the ground. He was asked if these injures were visible in photographs taken of him at the Sheriff’s office hours after the killing. ‘I couldn’t see,’ said the witness. It also emerged that Molly had made ‘multiple calls’ to her parents during the four-hour journey they made from their home to theirs in the hours before Mr Corbett’s killing.

Mr Martens was asked if he ever saw his daughter ‘state her mind’ to her husband. It was put to him that she had a ‘strong, outgoing personality’.

He replied: ‘Maybe I’m used to it.’

Mr Brown asked the witness if he remembered his daughter ‘calling multiple times’ during the journey he and his wife took to North Carolina on August 1. ‘I don’t recall’, said the witness. ‘Was she calling because she was upset?’ asked Mr Brown. ‘I don’t remember,’ replied Mr Martens.

Finishing his cross-examination for the State, Greg Brown accused Mr Martens of ‘murdering a naked, un-armed man by bludgeoning him to death’ with his daughter. Mr Martens denied this.