Anger at killer’s bid to do time in Portugal

MORE THAN 4,000 people have emailed Justice Minister Michael McDowell expressing outrage that a convicted Portuguese national, who repeatedly shot a young woman, leaving her to bleed to death in a hotel basement, could be sent home.

On Friday, the family of Gráinne Dillon will meet Mr McDowell to argue against the repatriation of her killer, who is serving a mandatory life sentence since March of this year.

On the night of January 5, 2002, Paulo Alexander Nascimento, 27, had been employed for six days at Jurys Inn Limerick, when he shot the 24-year-old trainee manager at close range three times with a single-barreled shotgun.

Ms Dillon was working as duty manager at the time and the two were the only staff on duty in the hotel that was catering for almost 300 guests.

Nascimento admitted killing the young woman after he stole €3,000 to buy a ticket to Portugal.

Last July, Nascimento filed for repatriation to Portugal, saying his mother was unable to visit him regularly.

Under the Transfer of Sentenced Persons Act, non-nationals can apply to serve their sentences in their native country. The sentence is converted into the country of origin’s legislation, which could mean Nascimento serving only half of his original sentence.

Ms Dillon’s sister, Aoife, said they only found out about Nascimento’s repatriation application, made in July, through the print media this month.

She said they immediately contacted Mr McDowell after learning about Nascimento’s request, but he only agreed to meet them when they started to get a response to their website (www.grainnedillon.com) campaign.

A member of the department’s repatriation office told them they did not normally inform families of repatriation applications in case it upset them.

“The idea that they were doing us a favour by not telling us is ridiculous,” Aoife said yesterday.

“At this stage, we are just so frustrated with the State. We can’t move on because, ever since Gráinne died, it seems as if the State is totally on the side of the criminal.

“Gráinne did not interrupt a burglary. He had already robbed the hotel. He went out of his way to kill my sister after stealing the money, because he hated Ireland and wanted to go back to Portugal,” she said.