A Limerick man killed in America earlier this month was buried on the day he was due home to Ireland with his children, mourners at his funeral heard.
Jason Corbett (39) was laid to rest in Limerick on Wednesday beside his first wife Mags, who died from an asthma attack in 2006.
The couple’s two children Jack (10) and Sarah (8) Corbett returned to Ireland last Saturday following a custody battle between their US stepmother Molly Martens and their paternal aunt Tracey Lynch.The funeral was delayed pending the outcome of the custody proceedings.
Mr Corbett was found with fatal head injuries at the home he shared with his Ms Martens in Panther Creek Court, North Carolina, on August 2nd.
Ms Martens and her father Thomas Martens, a retired FBI agent, have been named by police as persons of interest in the investigation into her husband’s death but no formal arrests have been made.
Hundreds of mourners packed Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Janesboro for the funeral Mass, where the two children were told they were the most important people present.
As musicians sang Eva Cassidy's classic hit Song Bird - Jason and Mags' wedding song - Jack placed a Liverpool jersey on the altar beside his father's coffin while Sarah placed an Irish jersey, representing their father's love of rugby and soccer.
In the eulogy delivered by David Lynch on behalf of his wife Tracey, mourners were thanked for supporting the family during their “time of crisis”.
“Today on the day he [JASON]was due home with his children to Ireland we to have face bravely our life without him,” he said. “But I think I speak for everybody when I say our lives have been better for having him as part of ours. He enriched our lives and made a box full of memories for each of us that are ours to keep or share and nobody can take that away.”
Mr Lynch said the months ahead “will be difficult as we wait for the truth to be told and we have faith that there is justice in this world”.
Parish priest Fr Pat O’Sullivan told mourners how Jack and Sarah had helped chose the colour of his vestments for the funeral mass, which were purple, their father’s favourite colour.
“What really matters today is that Jason is Jack and Sarah’s dad, and Jack and Sarah you know that he loved you very much and he did all he could to make you happy. He worked hard and you had fun together,” he told them.
Tracey Lynch also revealed how her brother never got over the death of his first wife Mags.
“After Mags died he lived his life with dignity but he was a lost soul and that life and spark was never fully replaced. If Jason couldn’t be here I know that in my heart, he wanted to be with Mags,” she wrote in her eulogy.
“Right up until he went to America he would spend every single day at her grave. We would often pass and return an hour later and he would still be there. A friend of ours told us recently that he would bring his lunch and read her the papers. She was his world and he felt blessed to have had that kind of love in his life.”
Ms Lynch - who along with her husband was named Jack and Sarah’s legal guardian in her brother’s will - also promised that the hopes and dreams her brother had for his children would be realised.
“I know my brother left lots of things undone and others that he never had the chance to start, but I promise that I will continue what he started and hopefully fulfil his dreams for him. This is just my small way of saying thank you for everything he did to me.”