The daughter of Jason Corbett believes that she and her brother were drugged by Molly Martens on the night she killed their father. 

Sarah Corbett Lynch makes the claim in her new book about her father’s death, A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and my Search for Justice and Healing. 

As a young child, Ms Corbett Lynch moved to North Carolina after her stepmother, Molly Martens, got homesick living in Limerick.

Her father, Jason, embraced life in the US but his American Dream turned to tragedy in 2015 when he was beaten to death by his wife and her father, Tom Martens. 

Two-years later, the pair were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 20 and 25-years behind bars. 

In 2020, their convictions were overturned by an appeals court and the Martens accepted charges of manslaughter. 

They continue to claim their actions that night were motivated by self-defence and have since been released from prison. 

On The Pat Kenny Show, Ms Corbett Lynch said she felt compelled to write the book because, for so long, she and her brother were prevented from speaking about their father in public. 

“We weren’t allowed to give evidence,” she said. 

“We were under a gag order, so we couldn’t even speak to the media. 

“When I lived with the Martens, I had no voice either. I had no control over my own thoughts. 

“And I wanted to tell my story; I wanted people to understand what actually happened inside of our home.” 

Ms Corbett Lynch’s mother died when she was very young and she has no memories of her. 

Before her father’s death, she considered Martens to be her mother - even though she and her brother were often treated cruelly by her. 

“There were certain things that Molly did that felt wrong but I didn’t know any different,” Ms Corbett Lynch said. 

“I was five-years-old when Molly started telling me that my Dad killed my birth mom. 

“That’s not okay and it’s not true - but I didn’t know any different and I didn’t know how to react to it.” 

Sometimes, if the siblings performed badly in a swimming competition, Martens punished them by not feeding them. 

And on the night the Martens killed her father, Ms Corbett Lynch is convinced she and her brother were drugged. 

“I remember being given tablets by Molly and some sort of cranberry juice that night,” she said. 

“When I woke up later on that evening… there were spiders and lizards crawling all over my bed. 

“When I tried to get out of my bed to go down to Molly and my Dad, my legs felt like jelly. It was like I was on a moving boat. 

“Later, I found out that Jack was also given tablets before he went to bed.” 

Molly Martens at the sentence hearing after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter of Jason Corbett in 2023. Picture by: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo

After the death of their father, the siblings were placed in the care of the Martens. 

It was, Ms Corbett Lynch recalls, a strange time because the Martens family acted “like nothing had happened”. 

“It was hard for me to actually comprehend that my Dad was gone,” she said. 

“Molly acted like she had a new lease of life; she was teaching her brother’s younger daughter how to swim in their pool. 

“They were having barbecues and we went to the beach.

“The only odd thing that was happening was the hushed whispers.”

Molly Martens leaves North Carolina Correctional Institution in Raleigh in 2024. Picture by: YouTube/FOX8 WGHP.

Afterwards, custody of the siblings was awarded to their aunt Tracey Corbett-Lynch and they returned to Ireland to live with her. 

In 2023, both gave victim impact statements when the Martens were resentenced; the family urged the judge to impose the “maximum possible sentence” of 17-years on Martens. 

Instead, they were sentenced to four-years and three months. 

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Main image: Split of Sarah Corbett Lynch and Molly Martens.