The Minister for Justice yesterday successfully applied to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin for a transcript of the trial of a Portuguese man who was jailed for life for the murder of a young female trainee manager in Limerick's Jurys Inn in 2002.
The application was made in connection with the possible transfer of Paulo Nascimento to a Portuguese jail. Unlike Ireland, Portugal has no life sentence and if transferred the life sentence he received in March 2003 would have to be changed to a determinate sentence. Nascimento (28), a former member of the Portuguese army, was given the mandatory life sentence after he pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Grainne Dillon (24), of Glounthane, Cork, at Jurys Inn, in Limerick, on January 5th, 2002.
The court heard that Nascimento, who worked as a night porter at the hotel for just six days before the killing, shot Ms Dillon after robbing €3,000 from the hotel. Yesterday, Mr Tony Hunt BL, for the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, told Mr Justice Paul Carney that the Minister required the transcript as part of his consideration as to whether a transfer would take place.
He said this would be an important factor in the length of the sentence specified by the Portuguese authorities in the event of the transfer taking place.
Mr Justice Carney said all parties should have the fullest information in this case and he ordered that the transcript be made available to the Minister and Nascimento.
The court heard that the Minister has received an application from Nascimento for a transfer to serve his sentence in Portugal.