MARTENS TO GET SHARE OF €400K CORBETT HOME

Murder house has failed so far to attract buyer

THE American house in which Jason Corbett was brutally murdered two years ago is on sale for just under $400,000 – with his former wife who was convicted of the crime to get half the proceeds.

The five-bed executive home Mr Corbett shared with Molly Martens and his two children in North Carolina has been on the market for over two months but has yet

to attract a buyer. In the 70 days it has been for sale it has claimed just 300 views on one property website, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Agent Mays Gibson Real Estate is pitching the house as a place where one could ‘vacation at home in the Meadowlands Golf Community with pool and tennis’.

Currently priced at $396,800 (about €325,000) it remains one of the most expensive houses in the area. It has seen no devaluation given its recent violent history and the negative impact that may have on sourcing a buyer.

Sources confirmed to the MoS that any proceeds from the sale of the house will be divided between the Martens family in the US and the Corbett family in Limerick, in accordance with the estate of Jason Corbett.

The sales advertisement describes the property as highly desirable: ‘This spacious five-bedroom, three bath brick traditional sits beautifully on .58 acres, bordered in back by trees. A dramatic twostorey foyer & great room enjoys hardwood floors, gas log fireplace, attractive open staircase w/landing overlooking the great room and an architectural opening into the kitchen work area.’

Dozens of online images of the house at 160 Panther Creek Court in Winston Salem, Davidson County, North Carolina, highlight a family home in a picturesque gated community, where the Limerick man, described as a ‘gentle giant’ was bludgeoned to death.

Last summer gruesome pictures of the murder scene inside the property, including blood-spattered walls, as well as photographs and descriptions of Jason Corbett’s fatal injuries, led one juror to vomit during the high-profile murder trial.

The 39-year-old father of two was beaten to death with a paving brick and an aluminium baseball bat in the upstairs master bedroom he shared with his second wife Molly Martens, 34, on August 2, 2015.

The beating was so bad that pathologists could not determine precisely how many blows he sustained. It was described by the prosecution as ‘heinous, atrocious and cruel.’

Martens and her father, Thomas Martens, 67, a retired FBI agent, were convicted of second-degree murder.

They claimed self-defence and defence of one another while prosecutors pointed to a $600,000 life insurance policy and attempts by Molly to gain custody of Jason Corbett’s children as motives for the killing.

Under US criminal law, seconddegree murder refers to intentional but not premeditated killing. Both received sentences of between 20 and 25 years, with a minimum of 20 years ordered to be served.

Built in 2006, and bought by Jason Corbett for $344,900 in 2011 as a family home for him, Molly and his two children from his first marriage, the property’s sale price is the highest it has been on the four occasions it has been listed for sale in the history of its ownership.

Details of any proceeds raised in respect of his estate will be heard in Forsyth County Court, following a consent order made late last year in Davidson County Court.

It is understood legal fees borne by both families each amount to several hundred thousands of dollars, with relatives of the Martens family launching an appeal to raise $300,000 for ongoing legal costs.

That appeal fund has to date raised $22,497 from 143 backers – or just 7% of its target – despite pleas by relative Mona Earnest to former US President Barack Obama, amongst others to ‘help to right this terrible injustice’.

Inmate number 1551729, Molly Martens is in prison in the Southern Correctional Institution. Her expected release is in August 2037.

She faces disciplinary action after breaching rules in prison for taking an ‘unauthorised leave’. She is believed to have either left a supervised area without the permission of prison guards or not reported to a supervised area as required.

Her father, prisoner number 155379, is in a separate facility and is due out in the same month.

Jason Corbett’s brother-in-law David Lynch – who is guardian to the Corbett children Jack and Sarah alongside his wife Tracey Lynch – filed a separate civil suit of wrongful death against both Martens and is seeking at least $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages.

The lawsuit, filed before the murder trial started, also alleges that Molly’s mother Sharon, who was in the house the night of the murder, ‘assisted, aided and abetted defendants Molly Page Corbett and Thomas Martens in the killing of Jason Corbett and in the concealment and destruction of evidence related to Jason Corbett’s death.’

Sharon Martens was not criminally charged in relation to the killing.

Lawyers for the convicted pair responded to the lawsuit by filing court papers claiming Mr Corbett’s death ‘was the sole proximate result of his own unprovoked violent aggression and his deliberate attempt to kill Molly Corbett and kill or seriously injure Mr Martens’.

An appeal by the Martens for a retrial on the basis of juror misconduct was turned down in December last by Davidson County superior court. The pair now intend to dispute how the trial was conducted, with the only legal recourse left to pursue at the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

It will be entirely based on legal aspects of the murder trial and will not include new evidence.

Representatives of the Martens family and the real estate agents did not respond to requests to comment on the property sale. The Corbett family did not wish to comment.

House value is highest it has ever been Lawsuit claims mother ‘aided and abetted’