legal battle | 

Evil killer who gunned down woman working in hotel gets first Christmas release

Grainne’s killer had sued Justice Minister for parole

Today at 16:08

CONVICTED MURDERER Paulo Nascimento – who shot a young woman to death while stealing from a hotel in Cork where they both worked – is one of 12 life sentence inmates to be granted temporary release from prison for Christmas.

The decision to grant Nascimento – who shot his 24-year-old victim three times with a shotgun as he robbed the hotel – comes just months after he took a legal action against Justice Minister Helen McEntee for ‘refusing’.

The 46-year-old, who is currently incarcerated at Shelton Abbey Open Centre, has spent 20 years behind bars for murder.

The Portuguese native was given a life sentence at the Central Criminal Court in 2003 after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Grainne Dillon at Jury’s Inn Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick, in January 2002.

The two had been working a night shift together when Nascimento shot the 24-year-old victim three times with a shotgun after he robbed €3,000 from the hotel.

He had been working as a night porter in the hotel for less than a week and had been on a night shift with Ms Dillon when he killed her.

Nascimento had stolen the gun and ammunition in the days before the killing from the home of his former girlfriend in Castletroy and had hidden them in the hotel.

After 4am on January 5, he confronted Grainne as she was putting money in the cash register in the downstairs restaurant of the hotel.

He shot her twice before stealing the money and shot her once more before leaving her to die.

An inquest into her death heard she had suffered two shotgun blasts to the right pelvic area and a third shotgun blast to the right breast.

In the immediate aftermath of the murder, he stashed the money, and Grainne’s keys and phone, into a bag which he hid in a laneway.

In June, Nascimento brought a High Court challenge over what he claimed was a refusal by the Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to consider his entitlement to parole.

He claimed he applied for parole on several occasions under the non-statutory Parole Board system, which had been in operation between 2001 and last year.

But his lawyers told the High Court that he remained in custody because since the new Parole Board has been established, the minister has refused to decide on his entitlement to temporary release.

In total this year, 12 life sentence inmates are among the 139 prisoners who will be granted temporary release over the Christmas period.

Gangland murderer Craig White and killer Stephen Carney – who strangled Amanda Jenkins in her Dublin flat in 2007 – will get time out of prison this festive period.

White (37), who is currently an inmate in Shelton Abbey Prison, Co Wicklow, has so far served 14 years of a life sentence for the murder of Noel Roche.

He was the getaway driver and the shooting is believed to have been carried out by now deceased gangland assassin Paddy Doyle, who worked for ‘Fat’ Freddie Thompson.

Meanwhile, Stephen Carney (47) is also due to be let out of Shelton Abbey Prison over Christmas.

Carney was moved to the open prison in 2021.

His trial heard that he grabbed Ms Jenkins, whom he had been in a three-and-a-half-year relationship with, and “strangled the life out of her” after wrongly accusing her of taking some of his cannabis on October 5, 2007.

He was sentenced to life in prison in 2008.

The Irish Prison Service (IPS) said in a statement that many of the prisoners being released are nearing the end of their sentences and the overriding concern when considering the applications is the safety of the public.

“In addition to compassionate and humane considerations, other criteria taken into account include the nature and gravity of the offence, length of sentence served to date, prior record on temporary release, behaviour while in custody and previous criminal history,” according to the IPS.

The periods of release vary from a few hours up to seven nights. All releases are subject to stringent conditions and any prisoner who breaks these conditions may be arrested and returned immediately to prison by the gardaí, the statement continued.

“The sensitivities of victims are an issue that has also been taken into account. Additional specific conditions will also apply in relation to victim liaison cases,” the IPS said.

“Furthermore all registered victims with the Irish Prison Service victim liaison service will be informed in the cases where prisoners are receiving Christmas Temporary Release.”