Murderer can challenge refusal to have him transferred to Portugal
High Court Reporters
A man who murdered his colleague after stealing €3,000 from the hotel where they worked is challenging the State's refusal to transfer him to his native Portugal so he can tend to his ill mother.
Paolo Nascimento was given a life sentence at the Central Criminal Court in 2003 after he pleaded guilty to the murder of Grainne Dillon (24) at the Jury's Inn Hotel, Steamboat Quay, Limerick in January 2002.
Nascimento was a night porter at the hotel when he stole €3,000 before using a shotgun to shoot Ms Dillon, who was working as a trainee manager.
An inquest into her death heard she had suffered two shotgun blasts to the right pelvic area and a third to the right breast.
Represented by Michael Lynn, with Julie Maher, instructed by solicitor James MacGuill, Nascimento submits to the High Court that he is currently on parole and has been living in Ireland since March 2025.
He seeks an order from the High Court quashing the decision by the Parole Board refusing his transfer of sentence to Portugal.
Portugal imposes a fixed sentence of 25 years for murder, as opposed to the mandatory life sentence with potential for parole in Ireland. The Parole Board here has refused to allow the transfer three times since 2006 because the Portuguese system does not allow for post-release monitoring.
In a letter dated from last January, the Chief State Solicitor's Office said the Portuguese authorities have advised that if transferred, Nascimento would serve the adapted 25-year sentence, which would expire on January 5, 2027.
The Minister stated that Nascimento would therefore be a "free man" by January 2027 without any post-release supervision.
The letter states that should Nascimento be transferred, his parole order and its restrictions would be "overturned and rendered null and void", undermining the work of the Irish Parole Board.
Nascimento seeks a declaration from the High Court that the Minister and the Parole Board are not entitled to refuse transfer without due regard to his rights and individual circumstances.
Nascimento's legal team submits that the Minister failed to give weight to their client's status as an EU citizen being "barred from visiting his home country, reuniting with his family and accessing his language and community".
"As a consequence, the applicant has been left in a position where he has not been given any hope of transfer and is facing an indefinite period of being required to reside in Ireland notwithstanding that Portugal is his home, his primary language is Portuguese, and his sole family and personal links are in Portugal," it is submitted.
It is submitted that Nascimento's mother, his closest living relative, is too sick and elderly to travel to Ireland.
Nascimento also seeks a declaration that the Parole Board unlawfully fettered its discretion by applying a de facto policy that persons released on parole must reside within the State for two years without regard to the applicant's particular individual circumstances, regarding the support Nascimento could give to his mother.
At the High Court on Monday, Judge Mary Rose Gearty granted leave to challenge the refusal and adjourned the matter to November.
