The psychiatrist of a man accused of murder has told his trial that it’s “entirely possible” that the defendant had “intentionally killed, ie murdered” a woman who had cut contact with him.
The doctor, who had testified that the Dublin man’s mental state diminished his responsibility for the killing, also agreed that the accused might be a compulsive liar and that there was an “element of planning” in how he got himself into her hotel room unrecognised.
Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill made the comments while being cross-examined on Tuesday in the Central Criminal Court trial of Eric Locke, who used a fake Facebook profile to arrange a meeting at the hotel with the woman, whom he had briefly dated before she cut contact with him.
Mr Locke is charged with murdering 31-year-old Sonia Blount in a room at the Plaza Hotel in Tallaght, Co Dublin, on February 16th, 2014.
The 35-year-old, with an address at St John's Park East, Clondalkin, has pleaded not guilty to murder, but admits causing the death of the mother-of-one, who was found strangled and suffocated in the room.
The doctor agreed on Tuesday that several messages asking Ms Blount to leave a keycard for the room at the hotel’s reception were to ensure she wouldn’t look through the peephole when he knocked on the room’s door.
Dr Ó Domhnaill testified on Monday that he had diagnosed Mr Locke with pervasive developmental disorder, and said it was his opinion that Mr Locke’s mental state meant he had “diminished responsibility” for the killing.
He said he believed that Mr Locke had intended tying Ms Blount to a chair and forcing her to listen to an account of his suffering, but he didn’t intend to kill her.
Cross-examination
He was cross-examined on Tuesday by Remy Farrell SC, prosecuting, who asked him about the significance of a dozen or so messages sent by the fake Facebook account asking Ms Blount to leave a keycard at the hotel’s reception.
"I suggest he was taking great care to ensure the key card was available to him so that she couldn't look through the peephole and see it was Eric Locke," said Mr Farrell.
The doctor agreed, and was asked if it showed planning.
“It’s certainly an element of planning,” he replied.
Mr Farrell asked him about Mr Locke’s expression of remorse.
“Most people on the spectrum have very limited empathy, and their expressions of remorse are far less genuine than people not on the spectrum,” he said.
“I think it was as genuine as his could be. I think his ability to express empathy is like most people on the autism spectrum.”
The trial had heard that Mr Locke said he’d brought a pellet gun, Stanley knife and cable ties to the hotel to frighten Ms Bount, but that she screamed when she saw them and he then strangled her.
Mr Farrell asked the doctor about the account Mr Locke had given him of what happened when he entered the room.
“He said that he went in, that initially she was half-surprised to see him, but said: ‘I half-expected it would be you who’d turn up here’,” the doctor said.
Mr Farrell informed him that the accused told gardaí that Ms Bount had been “very surprised’ to see him.
“This comes as something of a bombshell at this stage in the trial,” said the barrister.
“That’s my recollection,” the doctor replied.
Mr Farrell put it to him that he swallowed whatever Mr Locke told him “hook, line and sinker”.
Dr Ó Domhnaill denied this.
“I’ve been around a long time, around people who are compulsive liars,” he said, noting that he often assessed people for court.
He said that, in this case, Mr Locke’s family had asked him to review the accused to ascertain if he suffered with a mental disorder that had been missed.
Mr Farrell said that Mr Locke seemed to have used a cable to strangle Ms Blount, and “then discarded it in favour of his hands”.
He said this suggested someone who found that the tool was not up to the job, so rolled up his sleeves and used his hands.
“From a perspective of intent, if it was to try and strangle her using a cable, well then he probably would have brought one in his bag,” replied the doctor.
“He seems to have used things that were to hand.”
He said he thought there was a lot of panic involved in the attack and an “almost automatic response” on both sides.
“There’s a desperate attempt by the victim to escape her assailant,” the doctor said. “I doubt very much that she was thinking anything other than that she was acting on her survival instinct.”
He agreed that Mr Locke’s “blow-by-blow account” to gardaí of Ms Blount scratching his face cast doubt on his assertion to Dr Ó Domhnaill that he couldn’t remember all that had happened.
He agreed that Mr Locke was possibly lying, but didn’t think Mr Locke had intended to kill her.
“I’m fairly sure he formed the intent to quieten her,” the doctor said.
“By strangling her?” asked Mr Farrell.
“That’s the means that he used to stop her screaming,” he replied.
‘Intentional act’
Mr Farrell suggested that this was clearly an intentional act.
The doctor said his understanding was that this had happened when Mr Locke had reached for his bag and some of the contents fell out, including duct tape he had brought for gagging Ms Bount .
He was asked if it would come as a big surprise to learn that Mr Locke didn’t have a bag when he went to the room.
“Yeah,” he replied.
Mr Farrell suggested that Mr Locke had told him a “big whopping lie”.
“Well, if there’s no bag in the room,” the doctor replied.
He said that it wasn’t a big shock to him that Mr Locke had lied, because people with Asperger’s were often compulsive liars who would lie to avoid any hassle.
“Like being convicted of murder?” asked Mr Farrell,
“Yes, but also they would lie that they forgot to put the bins out,” explained the doctor.
“So Mr Locke might be a compulsive liar?” asked the barrister.
“Yes,” the doctor replied.
The psychiatrist said that Mr Locke’s “dressing of the corpse is incongruous” but that only Mr Locke’s explanation made sense: “To leave her, in death, her dignity.”
Mr Farrell suggested the possibility that Mr Locke had carefully planned to falsely imprison Ms Bount to tell her his problems, but had panicked and “intentionally killed, ie murdered her”.
“That’s entirely a possibility,” he said. “I accept that, yeah.”
The trial continues before a jury of eight men and four women.