Murder trial told of ‘violent struggle’ in hotel room where woman died

A murder trial has heard that a violent struggle took place in a Dublin hotel room, where the accused man is alleged to have strangled and suffocated his ex-girlfriend.

The jury also saw footage of him running away from the hotel, hours before the 31-year-old’s body was found on the floor of the room, along with an imitation firearm, cable ties and duct tape.

There were ligature marks around Sonia Blount’s neck and a blood-stained top had been stuffed deeply in her mouth with such force that it had damaged her teeth.

The evidence was given to the Central Criminal Court on Tuesday in the trial of Eric Locke (35), who is charged with murdering the mother-of-one at a room in the Plaza Hotel in Tallaght on February 16th, 2014.

The prosecutor had told the jury that the Dublin man had assumed a false identity in order to meet her in the room

Mr Locke, with an address at St John’s Park East in Clondalkin, has pleaded not guilty. However his barrister, Patrick Gageby SC, has said “the defence admits that the accused caused Ms Blount’s death”.

‘Do Not Disturb’

Garda Robert Whitty testified that he was called to the hotel room around 3.30pm that day. There was was a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign hanging from the door and the body of Ms Blount was lying on the floor.

“She had a ligature mark,” he recalled, explaining that this was a visible line around her neck. “It was consistent with what I would call a strangulation mark.”

He said that something similar to a bloodstained cloth was stuffed into her mouth and that unused cable ties were strewn around the floor of the room.

There was black duct tape and a phone charger near her body.

“There was an imitation firearm under the bed,” he said, adding that he did ‘not initially’ know that it was an imitation.

He observed tissues in the toilet and a towel on the side of the bath, both of which appeared to have been bloodstained.

“We believed that the death was suspicious,” he said, confirming that more officers were then called.

The State Pathologist, Professor Marie Cassidy, testified that death was caused by asphyxia or lack of oxygen due to compression of the neck, exacerbated by suffocation due to the gag in her mouth.

“The fact that, in this case, there was evidence of bruising in or around the mouth is probably an indication she was still alive when the gag was put in the mouth,” she explained.

Dislodge

She said the gag had been inserted with sufficient force to dislodge some of her front teeth and break a wire retainer at the back of her mouth.

She described the marks on her neck as being consistent with ligature strangulation, one consistent with a cable, including a phone charger cable found beside Ms Blount’s body.

She also found scratches on her neck, consistent with having come from fingernails which might suggest there had been a combination of ligature and manual strangulation, she said.

Remy Farrell SC, prosecuting, told her that there might be evidence that Mr Locke had dressed Ms Blount, possibly after she was killed. He asked how easy or difficult that would be.

“It’s extremely difficult,” she replied.

The trial continues.