Man loses battle to serve out jail sentence in Portugal

A Portuguese man who shot dead a trainee hotel manager in Limerick over five years ago has lost his High Court battle to serve out the rest of his jail term in his native country.

31-year-old Paulo Nascimento got a life sentence in 2003 when he pleaded guilty to murdering 24-year-old Grainne Dillon at Jury's Inn, Limerick in January 2002.

Paulo Nascimento was jailed for life four years ago for shooting Grainne Dillon, stealing €3000 from the Jury's hotel and leaving her to bleed to death.

He applied to serve out his sentence in Portugal where murder carries a 25-year fixed term but this was refused by the Minister for Justice .

He challenged this by way of judicial review claiming this was unreasonable and his lawyers questioned the constitutionality of the justice minister having the power to decide on the length of the mandatory sentence.

But today Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne dismissed his action on all grounds saying the minister does not determine the sentence because its imposed by the court, he's merely exercising his executive function in relation to early or temporary release on information furnished to him by the parole board.