A US court has heard that the extreme injuries Jason Corbett sustained were “a measure of how terrified Molly Martens and her father were” on the night he was beaten to death.
Ms Martens and her father, Tom Martens, are standing trial in a sentencing hearing for the voluntary manslaughter of her late husband, Irish man Jason Corbett.
The North Carolina Supreme Court ordered a retrial after the father and daughter were initially convicted of murdering Mr Corbett.
They accepted voluntary manslaughter charges of part of a plea deal, and the sentencing hearing is hearing submissions from the prosecution and their defence.
The Limerick businessman was beaten to death with a brick and baseball bat by his American wife and her father.
Mr Martens is a former FBI agent.
Scott Hampton, the director of Ending the Violence, an organisation based in Dover, New Hampshire, that provides education classes to perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence, gave evidence on Tuesday, the Irish Examiner reports.
The judge had to call for order during the day's proceedings after loud gasps from those present in court over evidence Dr Hampton gave regarding Mr Corbett's injuries.
When asked by the prosecutor if Mr Corbett's injuries looked like reasonable force, Dr Hampton replied: “It is a measure of how terrified Molly and Tom were.”
Jason Corbett, from Limerick, was found dead in his Davidson County home in the early hours of August 2nd, 2015.
