http://www.journalnow.com/news/crim...l&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share
So at last we have a glimpse of how Thomas Martens intends to defend himself in proceedings...and I have to say I am quite disturbed!!
Firstly, my thoughts are that in all honestly Mr Fitzpatrick may indeed have blamed Jason for his daughters death, in so much as when a daughter gets married, that father hands over the protection of their child to their husband. That father expects that this new husband will keep their precious daughter safe, protect them from any harm. Jason could not save Mags....despite all of his efforts...he had let Mags down, he had let the children down, he had let Mr Fitzpatrick down. I am sure no-one felt that more acutely than Jason. It is a natural part of the grief process!
It is possible that Mr Martens and Mr Fitzpatrick had a conversation at some point where this feeling of blame was discussed, but to my mind to try to turn it into an abject accusation of brutality on the part of Jason is setting off alarm bells. Innocent people do not need to fabricate conversations with dead men in order to validate their actions.
Why have the defense waited until after Mr Fitzpatrick has passed away to bring this to the courts attention. My understanding is that Mr Fitzpatrick fought a long battle and so, the defense would have known the urgency in getting Mr Fitzpatrick's written testimony to validate their claims long ago.
Secondly, if my daughter were going to a foreign country to au pair for a family and at any point I had a conversation with the father of her employer's dead first wife and he raised even the slightest inclination that he had suspicions about her death there is NO WAY ON EARTH she would still be working for him, let alone marrying him.
And finally, there is the basics of Irish forensics - if Mags had had any signs of physical trauma on her when the ambulance crew arrived then Jason would have been arrested at the time. If her sister (who was in the house with them during the asthma attack) had any suspicions as to what had triggered the attack, Jason would have been arrested and questioned. The inquest into her death would have recorded any suspicions that any single person had regarding Jason's involvement in Mags' death but it didn't. Mag's suffered a tragic death as a result of a chronic life-long disease. Her husband was devastated by her loss, her family were devastated by her loss but ultimately they all agreed, it was a TRAGIC loss. To try to turn it into something more sinister really is grasping at straws IMO.
It will be interesting to see if any of the Fitzpatrick family are called to testify as to their father's actual feelings regarding Jason, or whether the whole thing will be dismissed as hearsay. Either way the Martens are playing a very dirty game from the outset!