Jason Corbett's Sister Takes Guardianship Of His Children

After having been found dead in his bedroom at Limerick on August 2, Jason's children, Jack (10) and Sarah (8), have been placed under the guardianship of his sister Tracey and her husband David Lynch. It followed a custody battle with Jason's second wife, Molly Martens.

"As soon as we get the go-ahead [the children will leave the US], we're hoping we'll see them over the weekend," Catherine Fitzpatrick, the children's biological mother's sister said, according to independent.

Catherine said that she has been in touch with Jason's siblings who are in the US.

"I've spoken to Jack and Sarah and they sounded good. They rang my mother too, who is just out of hospital, and said they were coming home to mind her," Catherine continued.

"They came home every year, last year we got them home twice because they surprised us at Christmas. They have family coming over to them all the time too. There are two families for them here in Limerick, the Corbetts and the Fitzpatricks; we still have a close relationship since my sister passed away."

"I've also spoken to Molly Martens on the phone, I would have known her as I'm a big part of the kids' life. I was living with my sister at the time when she passed away and I spent over six months with the family afterwards," she continued.

"We were heartbroken for Jason, he never properly grieved for my sister, we thought the trip to America would help. It's very difficult for a man to lose the love of his life. Now it's time to bury Jason and let his family grieve. The children will have both families here, we're all close, we live close to each other and we work together. They'll have the best of the best," she added.

After the custody hearing, the children would get onto the first plane home, Catherine was convinced. "I would imagine they will be very eager to get home."

Jason, who is from Janesboro in County Limerick, was assaulted after a "domestic disturbance" at Panther Creek Court in Wallburg, North Carolina.

Although Jason had put them up under his sister and her husband as legal guardians in his will, following the death of the children's mother in 2006, due to an asthmatic attack, his stepmother had tried for custody.

John Corbett, Jason's older brother, said that it had "inflicted a level of pain on my entire family that is totally unforgivable. [She] could have avoided all of this by just humanely handing these children back to their rightful family. She and her family even obstructed us from getting my brother back to Ireland for two days," Mr Corbett said.

"It is inhuman how they've acted over the last two weeks... they stopped my brother from getting access to Jason's body for two days. These poor children must be so traumatised by all of this - especially Jack because he remembers his poor mom dying seven years ago. They will need so much nurturing and care over the next few years... [but] with the love and care they will receive from their true family, they will recover and heal."

Meanwhile, Molly Martens and her father, Thomas, are named as 'persons of interest' in Jason's death.

A North Carolina official presiding over the case said on Monday that the children should be handed over from Molly to the family.

Brian Shipwash, Clerk of Davidson County Superior Court, came to the decision that it was "in the best interest of the minor child to appoint applicants Tracey and David Lynch, paternal aunt and uncle, as guardians of the minor child."

So officials from the state's Department of Social Services travelled to their residence and removed them from Molly. They were brought to the Davidson Department of Social Services Office in Lexington, where they waited until they were collected by Tracey and David Lynch on Monday night.