The father of a young Cork woman murdered in Jury's Inn, Limerick, has said he believes the hotel failed to provide a safe place of work for his daughter. Karl Hanlon reports.
Mr Michael Dillon made his comments yesterday during the inquest into the death of his 24-year-old daughter, Gráinne, who was shot dead by a fellow employee on January 5th, 2002.
Portuguese national, Paulo Nascimento, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to shooting the former duty manager three times at point-blank range with a single-barrelled shotgun.
At yesterday's inquest at Limerick City Hall, Mr Dillon told the Coroner's Court that it was the family's first opportunity to hear any evidence in the case following Nascimento's guilty plea.
"My beautiful daughter, Gráinne, was 23-years-old when she got a job in Jury's Inn and thought all her dreams had come true. Because of Nascimento's guilty plea we never had our day in court - he changed his plea at the last minute and we were already in the courtroom when we discovered there would be no details given of the murder in court.
"I would like to thank the coroner today for allowing us to hear these details of our daughter's final moments. I believe that Jury's Inn failed to provide a safe place of work for my daughter.
"For the past 2½ years I have tried to bring this situation to light. I hope the proceedings today will allay the concerns that I have that the same would happen to another young girl on night duty," said Mr Dillon.
Following Mr Dillon's statement to the Coroner's Court, counsel for the Jury's/Doyle hotel group, Mr Brian O'Moore SC, said that the Health and Safety Authority had carried out a full investigation and concluded that the hotel did not have a case to answer.
Insp John Scanlan gave evidence to the inquest that Paulo Nascimento had stolen a single-barrelled shotgun and 18 ammunition cartridges from a house in Castletroy, Limerick, on January 3rd, 2002.
In the early hours of January 5th, 2002, Nascimento stole €3,313 from the hotel safe and then confronted Gráinne Dillon in the restaurant area where she was preparing the float, Insp Scanlan told the inquest.
The Portuguese national, who had been working as a night porter in the hotel for only six days, forced Ms Dillon into the kitchen.
Insp Scanlan said it was his belief that Ms Dillon was not going to allow herself to be robbed and that as she attempted to walk away Nascimento shot her at point-blank range.
Moments later, he shot Ms Dillon again as she sat slumped in a chair in the store room and he later returned to fire a final round at the woman who was already bleeding heavily.
Nascimento deposited a holdall bag with the cash and gun and Gráinne's personal items in a laneway some distance away from the hotel and Insp Scanlan said he believed the murderer had planned to recover the items before leaving Ireland and returning to Portugal.
At 5.45 a.m. Nascimento turned up at Henry Street Garda station and reported that there had been a shooting in the hotel. He was later arrested and charged with her murder.
Insp Scanlan stressed to the inquest that details of the final moments of Gráinne Dillon's life depended almost entirely on Paulo Nascimento's account of events.
Former state pathologist, Prof John Harbison, gave evidence to the inquest that she suffered two shotgun blasts to the right pelvic area and a third shotgun blast to the right breast.
She died from a combination of bleeding and shock, Prof Harbison told the inquest. The wounds to the pelvic area, which damaged a major artery, were almost certainly fatal, he said.
After retiring to consider their verdict, the jury of six men and one woman recorded a verdict of murder in accordance with the judgment handed down in the Central Criminal Court on March 3rd, 2003.