Man who strangled ex-girlfriend handed himself into Gardaí hours after body discovered
The trial of a man who is accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend has heard that Eric Locke handed himself in to Gardaí on Feb 16 2014, a few hours after Sonia Blount’s body was found on the floor of room 346 at the Plaza Hotel.
Over the course of a number of interviews the following day, he spoke about how upset he was when contact between them ceased after their brief relationship ended the month before.
He admitted setting up a fake Facebook account under the name Shane Cully to make contact with her.
She thought she was meeting this person on the night in question and Mr. Locke said she looked very shocked when he walked into the room.
He said they were talking calmly and ended up having consensual sex. When he took some cable ties, masking tape and a pellet gun out of his pockets, he said she started screaming, and he just panicked and strangled her.
He remembered her asking: “Eric what are you doing?”
He denied raping her and while he did confess to killing her, he also denied it was murder and said he never intended for her to die.
The trial of a man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend has heard he admitted hurting her when he handed himself in the day her body was found.
Eric Locke of St. John’s Park East in Clondalkin in Dublin admits strangling Sonia Blount in a hotel room in Tallaght but denies the murder charge.
The 35-year-old claims he was suffering from a mental disorder and will raise the defence of diminished responsibility.
The jury has begun hearing about his interviews with Gardaí.
Some texts exchanged between Mr Locke and his ex-girlfriend were read out at his trial yesterday.
The first text read out yesterday was sent from Eric Locke to Sonia Blount on Jan 11, 2014 as they prepared to go to a gig in Dublin.
In the early hours of the following morning, the 35-year-old text her to say he felt awful for what he said during the night.
It read: “I feel insecure when you talk to other guys like that. You never tell me you care, you never open up to me”.
He repeatedly apologises, says he was “hammered” and begs for her forgiveness and one final chance.
Two days later, he text her to say he’s in a hotel room with a rope.
“I’m doing this now. I just want peace,” it reads.
Over the next few days, Sonia Blount begged him to just forget about her and leave her alone.
It is the prosecution’s case that he later assumed a false identity online to lure her to a hotel room in Tallaght the day after Valentine’s Day 2014.
Mr Locke admits strangling her to death, but denies murder by claiming he did not mean to kill her.
