The mother of a man who was hog-tied, bashed and fatally stabbed by his half-brother says she’s haunted by images of her son’s final hours
New South Wales mother Fiona Cerin never saw Trent Errington shed a tear for her slain son but says she’s appalled to see the half-brother now has a teardrop tattoo under his eye.
Errington, 31, and his then-girlfriend Rhiannon Lisa Bloodsworth, 24, were in October found guilty of the manslaughter of Jay Cerin, who was hog-tied, bashed, stabbed and left to die in his Sydney home two-and-a-half years ago.
Trent Errington, 31, and his then-girlfriend, Rhiannon Lisa Bloodsworth, 24, were in October found guilty of the manslaughter of Jay Cerin (pictured) while staying at his Sydney home in August 2015
Jay Cerin (pictured, right, with former girlfriend), was hog-tied, bashed and fatally stabbed by his half-brother Trent
‘I couldn’t even kiss my son goodbye because you both ran and left him to rot,’ Ms Cerin told the New South Wales Supreme Court during a sentence hearing on Friday.
‘Imagine how sickened I felt when I was told that this (tattoo) was a tough symbol to show that you have killed someone. That is another insult towards Jay and my family.’
In a victim impact statement, Ms Cerin said she still gets nightmares, depression and anxiety thinking about the 26-year-old’s final hours when he was ‘begging for his life’.
‘How scared the poor boy must have been and the pain he must have suffered during that time by someone he trusted,’ she said.
Trent Errington and Rhiannon Lisa Bloodsworth (pictured), 24, were found guilty in October
‘I hope that you are both haunted by those images as I am.’
Errington confessed to a friend that he had smashed a dog’s bowl over his sibling’s head and later poured bleach over his face after he found him purple-faced and not breathing during the August 2015 attack.
The former lovers, who had been staying at Mr Cerin’s housing commission unit, ‘walked all over’ the big-hearted young man, when the ice addicts stole his lizards, clothes and never paid rent.
‘All that, and he continued to want you in his life and loved you as a brother,’ Ms Cerin said.
The pair showed no emotion as Ms Cerin slammed their false cover story that Errington had walked in on his half-brother attempting to rape Bloodsworth.
Relatives and friends cried in the courtroom as Ms Cerin chided the duo for their lack of remorse.
Trent Errington (pictured, right) and Rhiannon Lisa Bloodsworth, 24, were found guilty in October
‘My daughter suffers from panic attacks and my mother’s health has deteriorated from the stress,’ she said.
‘This heartbreak and mental torture is for life. Then you continue to dismiss his character by false accusations of rape.’
Crown prosecutor Patrick Barrett noted Errington’s extensive violent criminal history and a psychiatric report revealed a high risk of future recidivism.
But Bloodsworth’s barrister David Price said she should receive a less severe punishment, arguing there’s no evidence that she ‘laid one finger on Mr Cerin’ while Errington’s DNA was found on the body.
Mr Price stressed Bloodsworth’s need for rehabilitation considering it was her first time in custody and her life was marred by domestic abuse from previous partners and her father.
‘She has fresh scars on her neck from a recent suicide attempt,’ he said.
But Justice Christine Adamson, who will hand down her sentence next week, said a jury had convicted them of the same ‘terrible, callous, cruel and degrading’ offence.
She said it would reinforce gender stereotypes to assume that because Errington was older, stronger and a man he played a larger part in the crime.
Fiona Cerin says she gets nightmares, depression and anxiety thinking about her son Jay’s (pictured) death