Eric Locke jailed for life for strangling young mum Sonia Blount to death just hours after her son’s third birthday – as family reveal how they told lad she ‘had to go to heaven’
Sonia Blount’s family employed the services of a child psychologist to help explain to the boy why he would never see his mother again
VILE Eric Locke has been jailed for life for murdering a single mother-of-one hours after her son’s third birthday party.
The monster had used a fake Facebook profile to lure the 31-year-old to a city hotel when she cut contact with him.
Sonia Blount’s family employed the services of a child psychologist to help explain to the boy why he would never see his mother again, the Central Criminal Court heard.
The judge in the case described the murder as "an unspeakable tragedy" for the child.
She had been ‘in fear of him’ due to his reaction to the break down of their brief relationship.
He then strangled her with his hands and the cable of her phone charger, and suffocated her by forcing her t-shirt into the back of her mouth with such force that he dislodged her teeth.
The 35-year-old, with an address at St John’s Park East in Clondalkin, had pleaded not guilty to her murder, but admitted causing her death in a room at the Plaza Hotel in Tallaght on February 16, 2014.
Locke had argued that he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time and that this diminished his responsibility.
The defence, which falls under the Insanity Act, can result in a verdict of not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.
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This was rejected by a unanimous jury verdict on Monday, and he was found guilty of murder after just an hour and 33 minutes of deliberations.
Two of her sisters delivered emotional victim impact statements at his sentencing hearing this afternoon.
She said: "We had to tell him your Mammy is an angel now, she had to go to heaven.”
But Claire said Jake was so confused.
She said: “His Dad was gone and now his Mammy too. He said my Daddy left me and my Mammy promised she would never leave.”
Three weeks before she died, his mother had asked Claire to raise Jake if anything happened to her. So he went to live with his aunt, uncle and cousins.
Claire said: “At night, he would sob for her... If she could, she would be by his side. This opportunity was taken from her and Jake.”
Claire said his life would always be tainted by what had happened.
“He is her legacy and he is doing her proud. She’s looking down every day and smiling at him.”