Dublin man jailed for life for hospital murder

A 50-year-old man who stabbed an Aids patient to death in his hospital bed has been found guilty of murder and jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court.

Patrick Gilraine (otherwise known as Kilraine) of Basin St flats, Dublin 8 was convicted by a unanimous jury verdict of the murder of Mr Kevin Dowler (aged 52) also from Basin St, Dublin at St James's Hospital, Dublin on February 7, 2000.

Gilraine stood impassively as Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins imposed the mandatory life sentence on him. None of his family or the victim’s family was present.

Gilraine attacked his neighbour when he heard he was due to be released from hospital because he believed he was a paedophile.

He told gardai that he did it "to save other kids" and that he would "do it again".

"I hope he's dead, he's a paedophile," he said.

During the four-day trial the court heard that Mr Dowler was a homosexual man suffering from Aids who had been in hospital for a number of months suffering from a "chronic personal infection".

The court heard that Gilraine paid him a number of visits on the day he killed him.

He also expressed his concerns about Mr Dowler’s release to hospital social workers, who told him to contact the relevant authorities.

He later returned and confronted the patient in his hospital bed, stabbing him seven times with a steak knife.

The two men knew each other socially as they both lived in the Basin Street flats area of Dublin 8.

Sgt Joseph Crowe told the trial that there was no evidence that the allegations made against the deceased by Mr Gilraine were true.

However, statements had been taken from one local boy who said that Mr Dowler had taken him to Bray and once touched him on the bottom.