Murder victim’s family succeed in call for hotel probe

A STATEMENT from the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) read out on a radio show was the first time the family of a murder victim became aware that an investigation they have been campaigning for was under way.

The Dillon family have spent the last 18 months calling for the HSA to investigate the work practices in the hotel where 24-year-old Gráinne was shot by a workmate who left her to bleed to death while he robbed €3,000 from the cash registers and safe.

Gráinne and Paulo Alexander Nascimento were the only two staff on duty in Jurys Inn Limerick on January 5, 2002, catering for almost 300 guests. Mr Nascimento, a Portuguese national, had only been working for the group for six days before he shot Gráinne at close range with a single-barrelled shotgun in the breast, thigh and pelvic region as part of his attempt to steal enough money to buy a ticket home.