My dad fell for our beauty queen nanny. I knew she was evil but nothing prepared me for the horrors to come... now I'm haunted by my lies

Whenever Sarah Corbett Lynch hears the whirring sirens of a constabulary car oregon ambulance, it triggers a crippling panic attack. For it takes her backmost to the aboriginal hours of August 2, 2015, erstwhile she was 8 years old. 

Sarah remembers staring retired of the model of her location successful Winston-Salem, North Carolina, astatine the flashing lights of the exigency vehicles. ‘My brother, Jack, and I had nary thought what was going on,’ Sarah, present 18, tells the Daily Mail. 

It was lone aboriginal that she and Jack, past ten, learned that their begetter Jason Corbett had been killed — bludgeoned to decease by their stepmother Molly and step-grandfather Thomas Martens. 

The killers claimed that they had been acting successful self-defense, utilizing a ceramic and a shot bat to 'subdue' 39-year-old Jason. They were initially sentenced for up to 25 years successful situation but were released arsenic portion of a plea woody past June. 

Despite the media frenzy surrounding the lawsuit implicit the past decade, Jason's children person remained silent  — until now.

In her caller memoir, A Time For Truth, Sarah describes a traumatic puerility wrecked by the deaths of her commencement parent erstwhile she was conscionable 12 weeks aged and, of course, her father. 

And, successful a drawstring of shocking claims, she alleges that her step-mother abused her, destroyed her father's memory, and adjacent forced her to prevarication during the horrifying case.

'My father's sanction was dragged done the mud,' Sarah, present a euphony pupil successful Ireland, tells the Daily Mail. 'He was a loving, decent antheral and they made him retired to beryllium a monster.' 

The family's ordeal began backmost successful 2008, successful Sarah's autochthonal metropolis of Limerick, Ireland. Jason, a widower of 2 years, had hired the past 24-year-old Molly to beryllium his children's nanny. 

A erstwhile quality queen from Tennessee, Molly was blonde, charismatic and stunningly beautiful. Despite the nine-year property gap, the mates soon fell successful love.

A period earlier their wedding successful June 2011, Jason was transferred to the US for his work at a packaging institution and the household moved to their four-bedroom location successful Winston-Salem.

To the extracurricular world, it seemed similar the cleanable American dream. But, successful the abstraction of conscionable 4 years, the illusion was brutally shattered.

Because, down closed doors, Sarah claims that her stepmom had go progressively controlling. 

For a start, she says that Molly, present 41, would archer radical she was the children's commencement mother. When they were successful simple school, she allegedly dyed their hairsbreadth blond to look much similar her but told Jason they were going done a 'phase'.

And the alleged maltreatment didn't extremity there. Sarah claims that Molly would punch and slap the children erstwhile they 'misbehaved' — and says she erstwhile had to 'drag' her stepmom disconnected a battered Jack erstwhile helium was curled up connected the crushed successful pain.

But Molly's biggest flashpoint, Sarah says, was their commencement mother, Margaret. ‘Molly hated Jack oregon maine talking astir her,’ Sarah recalls.

Molly allegedly taunted them with claims that Margaret, who had died of an asthma onslaught successful 2006, had been murdered by their father. ‘Molly didn't person to pass america not to archer our dad,’ Sarah recalls. ‘We knew that, if we told him what she'd said, we’d get punished.’

But Sarah's astir heartbreaking representation involves a photograph of her commencement parent which Jason had enactment successful a pink, crown-adorned framework and fixed to her arsenic a present. 

She says she utilized to fell the picture — a photograph from their wedding day — successful 1 of her chamber drawers and survey it successful secret. ‘I wanted to spot if I looked similar my mom,’ Sarah tells me.

However, 1 time, she forgot to enactment it back. When Molly came into her chamber and saw it connected the bed, Sarah claims she shouted successful her face: 'This pistillate is dead! I'm your mother, not her!'

A furious Molly allegedly seized the picture, ran into the hallway and threw it down the stairs. The framework smashed and the shards of solid scattered crossed the hallway downstairs.

When Jason returned from work, Molly told him she'd dropped it by mistake. In a saccharine gesture, he super-glued the frame, replaced the solid and gave it backmost to his girl whom helium called 'Princess'. 

‘I inactive person the photograph,’ Sarah says now. ‘I’ll treasure it forever. I ever privation to retrieve Mum and Dad arsenic a beautiful, smiling couple, afloat of joyousness connected their wedding day.’

The past clip she saw her begetter was connected the nighttime of August 1, 2015. That evening Molly's parents, Thomas and Sharon Martens, who lived a four-hour thrust distant successful Knoxville, Tennessee, had made an impromptu sojourn to enactment the night. 

The eight-year-old went up to furniture astatine astir 8pm, saying: ‘Good night, Daddy. I emotion you.’ Those would beryllium the last words she spoke to him.

The small miss dozed disconnected but woke with a commencement astir 4 hours later. She remembers staggering into the hallway wherever Molly gave her a drink, and went backmost to sleep. 

At astir 3am, she woke up again — this clip to find a constabulary serviceman astatine the extremity of her bed. 

‘I felt ill, and everything astir maine seemed to beryllium moving,’ she says. 'I retrieve the bull had a brushed dependable and asked, "Hey, would you similar to locomotion backward down the stairs oregon for maine to transportation you?" I was truthful confused, I asked him to transportation me.

'As we went downstairs, it felt similar determination were hundreds of radical wrong the house, each of them talking. I retrieve the fuzzing of the constabulary walkie talkies and their boots connected the hardwood floor.'

Sarah’s caput was pressed into the officer’s thorax arsenic helium carried her into the guestroom downstairs. Mercifully, it meant she couldn't spot her father’s bloodied corpse lying connected a gurney by the beforehand door.

She can't retrieve however galore hours she and Jack stayed successful the country with their step-grandmother who, she claims, was calmly speechmaking a publication connected the bed.

‘Jack and I were excessively stunned to accidental anything,’ Sarah recalls. ‘I looked retired of the model astatine the flashing lights successful a daze.’

When Molly and Thomas returned from the constabulary presumption aboriginal that morning, they told the children what had happened — a mentation of events they went connected to repetition successful tribunal six months later. 

During their proceedings successful February 2016, Molly claimed that it was Jason who had go 'controlling' during their matrimony and had grown 'paranoid' she was going to cheat connected him. 

She told Davidson Superior Court that, connected the nighttime successful question, she had accidentally woken Jason aft putting Sarah backmost to furniture and helium had accused her of 'coddling' the eight-year-old.

The 2 began to argue, disturbing Thomas successful the guestroom beneath who claims that helium picked up a metallic shot bat from downstairs and recovered Jason 'choking' Molly. He told the tribunal that Jason past dragged Molly towards their ensuite bath and threatened to termination her. 

Claiming self-defense, the retired FBI cause said helium started to hit Jason with the bat. When helium tried to combat back, the brace crushed his skull with a factual brick, which Molly claimed she'd been keeping connected her nighttime basal to usage for an 'art project'. (To this day, Sarah says she is baffled by the excuse.)

In his 911 telephone that night, Thomas, present 74, said: ‘My son-in-law got successful a combat with my daughter, I intervened and he’s successful atrocious shape... He's bleeding each over, and I, I whitethorn person killed him.'

That, prosecutors said, was an understatement. 

Jason had truthful galore injuries that nighttime that a coroner was incapable to number them all. Indeed, Greg Brown, the lawyer representing the state, said the sidesplitting was truthful convulsive arsenic to beryllium ‘heinous, atrocious and cruel'. 

Juror Nancy Perez aboriginal said that she had vomited aft being shown the gruesome photos of his corpse. 

Forensic experts argued that the carnal evidence, including humor spatter patterns, proved that Jason received the fatal blows portion lying connected his chamber floor — casting uncertainty connected Thomas's grounds that Jason had been warring backmost astatine the time.

The prosecution besides disputed Thomas and Molly’s timeline up of calling 911, citing paramedics who described Jason's assemblage arsenic being 'cold to the touch' erstwhile they arrived. 

But the astir arguable portion of 'evidence' progressive the children themselves. 

In the days aft their father's death, Sarah and Jack had made statements to constabulary and societal workers which upheld Molly's claims that Jason had been abusive.

Jack said that Jason 'would physically and verbally wounded her', saying: '[Molly] would cry and effort to plug her ears. Sometimes she would conscionable curl herself up successful a ball.’

In a abstracted interview, Sarah said: ‘He would shriek astatine [Molly] each day, oregon sometimes doubly a day. He would combat with her. One clip I saw him measurement connected her foot. He called her atrocious names.’

Both children besides said that their step-grandmother had told them to telephone her with 'code words' if their dada became violent.

However, pursuing their instrumentality to Ireland successful 2015 — wherever they were adopted by Jason’s sister, Tracey Lynch, and her husband, David — they recanted the statements, which were past deemed inadmissible successful court. 

Thomas and Molly were recovered blameworthy of second-degree execution successful 2017, and sentenced for up to 25 years successful prison.

But, successful 2020, an appeals tribunal overturned the archetypal judge’s determination to artifact Sarah and Jack’s statements from being work out. The killers were granted a retrial and took a plea woody for voluntary manslaughter successful 2023, walking escaped from situation past June. 

Now, Sarah says, she is haunted by those statements — claiming that she had been 'coached' into lying arsenic she was told she would different beryllium separated from her brother. 

‘We loved [Molly] and thought she was telling the truth,’ she says. ‘It was a operation of manipulation, gaslighting and coercive control.

‘We were abused, didn’t cognize it was maltreatment and were fto down by a strategy that didn’t admit it arsenic abuse.'

For her part, Molly has denied each the allegations. Citing the 2023 retrial, a connection from her lawyer said: 'The tribunal recovered that it was Jack and Sarah’s archetypal statements astir their abusive begetter that was “the truth,” not the aboriginal claims made aft they came nether the power of Tracey Lynch. 

'The 2 forensic interviewers of the children, trained to spot lying and coaching, some said that the children had not been coached and told the truth.'

They added: 'The children’s archetypal statements were corroborated by 5 brave women who came guardant to attest astir Jason’s carnal and affectional maltreatment of Molly and by a portion signaling of Jason’s abuse. 

'The tribunal further recovered that Molly acted that nighttime successful effect to Jason’s threat, duress, coercion and provocation.'

Sarah ne'er did get a accidental to look successful court. But she hopes that her caller book, which was published by Mobius past month, volition spell immoderate mode to clearing Jason's name.

‘I wrote A Time For Truth arsenic a tribute to our dad,’ she says. ‘He was a unfortunate of abuse, but Jack and I survived it.

‘Despite what happened, we’re surviving our lives arsenic afloat arsenic imaginable — successful a mode that would marque Dad proud.’