Trial of Clondalkin man accused of murdering Tallaght mother enters day eight

The trial of a Clondalkin man charged with the murder of a Tallaght mother-of-one in the Plaza Hotel in 2014 enters its eighth day today at the Central Criminal Court.

Eric Locke (35) of St John’s Park East in Clondalkin admitted he caused the death of Sonia Blount (31) in the hotel room on February 16, 2014 but has denied he murdered her.

Yesterday the cross examination of Dr Sean O’Domhnaill by Prosecutor Remy Farrell SC continued, with the doctor agreeing that messages sent from the accused to Ms Blount, which asked her to leave a key card at the hotel reception, showed an element of planning.

Asked about the significance of the messages, the doctor said the messages suggested Mr Locke had taken great care to ensure Ms Blount would not look through the peep-hole when he arrived at the room.

On Monday Dr O’Domhnaill told the court he believed Mr Locke intended to tie Ms Blount to a chair to force her to listen to him.

The consultant psychiatrist went on to say, in his opinion, Mr Locke displays some, but not all, the features of autism spectrum disorder as well as hyperkinetic disorder, or ADHD, and he also suffers from severe generalised anxiety disorder.

These conditions, according to Dr O’Domhnaill, left the accused incapable of being fully responsible for his actions, and, due to his mental state, he would be described as having diminished responsibility at the time of Ms Blount’s death.

When asked about Mr Locke’s expression of remorse, Dr O’Domhnaill said many people on the spectrum have limited empathy, while their expressions of remorse can be less genuine than others who are not on the spectrum.

Dr O’Domhnaill was also asked about the dressing of Ms Blount’s body after she had been killed, which he said was “incongruous”, and only Mr Locke’s explanation, that he had wanted to give Ms Blount some dignity in death, made sense.

The trial continues before a jury of eight men and four women.