A psychiatrist giving evidence on behalf of a man accused of murdering a woman in a Dublin hotel room, has said it is possible the man is a compulsive liar.
Dr Seán Ó Domhnaill was giving evidence on behalf of 35-year-old Eric Locke who denies murdering Sonia Blount in February 2014.
Mr Locke admits causing her death but says he did not intend to kill her and is pleading the defence of diminished responsibility.
Dr Ó Domhnaill told the trial yesterday that Mr Locke showed signs of autism, Asperger's syndrome and ADHD from an early age and he had diagnosed him with a pervasive developmental disorder.
Under cross-examination, Dr Ó Domhnaill said it was "completely contradictory" that Mr Locke told him he had only a hazy memory of killing Ms Blount, but had given gardaí an account of all the injuries she had inflicted on him.
He said he had doubts about whether or not Mr Locke did not remember killing her and it was probable Mr Locke had lied about this.
Dr Ó Domhnaill said he believed Mr Locke did not go to the hotel room with the intent to murder Ms Blount and said he believed he went there to falsely imprison her and intended to quieten her when she started screaming.
He said Mr Locke had told him that she panicked when his bag containing his "suicide kit" and other items including duct tape and cable ties had fallen open.
But he admitted under-cross examination that CCTV showed Mr Locke did not have a bag with him when he went to the room.
Dr Ó Domhnaill said many people with Asperger's syndrome were compulsive liars and lied even when they did not need to.
He said Mr Locke may well be a compulsive liar.
The doctor said he had not read the book of evidence before interviewing Mr Locke and could not remember aspects of what Mr Locke told gardai.
He said he was retained very specifically to see if Mr Locke had a mental disorder which could explain why he behaved in the way he did.
Dr Ó Domhnaill agreed that Mr Locke's actions in messaging Ms Blount under an assumed name showed a very well thought out manipulation of circumstances to ensure that she arrived at the hotel.
He said Mr Locke's dressing of Ms Blount's corpse after he killed her was "incongruous" and said the only explanation that made sense was Mr Locke's explanation that he did it "to leave her in death, her dignity".
Prosecuting counsel Remy Farrell asked him if he accepted this was consistent with trying to conceal the fact he had just had sex with someone who was now dead.
Dr Ó Domhnaill said Mr Locke's claim that they had had consensual sex was not pertinent to the questions he had to address.
He did not recall Mr Locke telling gardaí that he did not know why he had put on Ms Blount's jeans and boots before leaving the room.
He could not remember an explanation that Mr Locke gave to a taxi driver after the killing, that he had been in a fight in the nightclub.
But denied that he had not read all the details of the case before he completed his report.
He said it was "entirely possible" that Mr Locke lured Ms Blount to the room with the intention of falsely imprisoning her and then panicked and intended to murder her.
Mr Locke is pleading that he was suffering from a mental disorder at the time which diminished his responsibility for the killing.
Mr Locke must prove to the jury that he was suffering from this disorder, on the balance of probabilities.
Dr Ó Domhnail told the trial that Mr Locke's responsibility for his actions was diminished. The court has heard that Mr Locke posed as a man called "Shane Cully" on Facebook in order to set up a meeting with Ms Blount.
Murder accused says woman killed in hotel 'half expecting' him
Under cross-examination, Dr Ó Domhnaill said that Mr Locke told him that when he went into the hotel room initially, Ms Blount was "half surprised" to see him.
But he said Mr Locke told him she "half expected" it was him who would turn up.
Mr Farrell put it to him that Mr Locke had told gardaí Ms Blount was "very surprised" to see him and that she told a friend she had requested a "selfie" from "Shane Cully" to make sure it was not Mr Locke.
Dr Ó Domhnaill said he found it difficult to discount the possibility that Ms Blount had at least a suspicion that Shane Cully was in fact Mr Locke.
He said there was a "residual" possibility that part of her still liked Mr Locke.
He denied a suggestion from Mr Farrell that he had swallowed whatever Mr Locke told him "hook, line and sinker".
Earlier, Dr Ó Domhnaill said Facebook messages sent by Mr Locke posing as Shane Cully, repeatedly requesting Ms Blount to leave a key card at the reception desk for him, were an attempt to manipulate the situation so Ms Blount would be in place.
He agreed it showed an element of planning.
He said Mr Locke was the main source of the account he had of what had happened in the hotel room as he was the only person who had emerged alive from the room.
Dr Ó Domhnaill also told the Central Criminal Court that he diagnosed Mr Locke's mother with Asperger's syndrome and his father with ADHD.
Under cross-examination, he acknowledged that he had first assessed Mr Locke in November 2015 before his trial was originally due to get under way but that he did not furnish his final report until July 2016.
He said he believed he had read text messages sent by Mr Locke as part of his assessment.
He said he read all of the material made available to him.
Dr Ó Domhnaill was again questioned about the fact that he had not watched garda interviews with Mr Locke but had received childhood material relating to him from his family.
He said in order to ascertain Mr Locke's state of mind in the hotel room, the most important thing would be to have a very good account of his mental state generally.
The doctor also told Mr Farrell he had diagnosed Mr Locke's mother with Asperger's syndrome after interviewing her.
He said it had not been diagnosed before as knowledge of it only developed in the past two decades. He said he diagnosed his father with ADHD.
He said Mr Locke's sister in particular believed that he was suffering from a mental condition which had not been recognised and was being missed.
He said she told him that Mr Locke had made several attempts at suicide in the weeks and years before the tragic death of Ms Blount.
Dr Ó Domhnaill said there were around four or five attempts, but agreed there was only a family record of one attempt in 2007 and objective evidence of one attempt in January 2014.
The doctor also gave evidence that Mr Locke suffered from a condition which meant he was unable to correctly recognise the moods and emotions he was experiencing.
He said most psychiatrists would be unable to diagnose this as they were not trained in identifying neurodevelopmental disorders.
He said one of Mr Locke's coping mechanisms to deal with his issues was to drink a bottle and a half of Jack Daniel's whiskey to "quieten his mind".
Mr Farrell put it to the doctor that the content of text messages sent to Ms Blount by Mr Locke showed he was able to identify his feelings and accused the doctor of "making it up as he went along".
Dr Ó Domhnaill denied this and said it was a rare condition and a difficult concept to understand.
Dr Ó Domhnaill has finished his evidence and the jury has heard the defence will not be calling a second psychiatrist to give evidence as planned.
The case will continue tomorrow.
