The family of a young Cork woman, murdered while she worked as a trainee hotel manager in Limerick last year, has called on the Minister for Justice not to allow the man convicted of her murder to return to Portugal to serve the rest of his sentence.
Ms Gráinne Dillon (24) was shot as she worked as night manager at Jury's Inn in Limerick in January last year.
Her co-worker, Mr Paulo Nascimento (27), was convicted of her murder in March and sentenced to life for what the trial judge described as the most vicious and callous crime he had ever encountered.
Mr Nascimento, who had worked as a night porter at Jury's for just six days before the killing, shot Ms Dillon a number of times after robbing €3,000 from the hotel.
In the past week, he has lodged an application to the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, for repatriation to Portugal.
Gráinne's sister, Ms Aoife Dillon, said her family had heard of Mr Nascimento's application when contacted by a journalist on Monday morning.
"We were shocked. We had heard reports at the time of the trial that he might apply for this, but we were assured he would have to serve at least half his sentence here, that it was something we would not have to worry about for a few years anyway. We are gutted that we weren't contacted by the Department. They had over a week to contact us. "
Her family faxed a letter to the Minister's office yesterday morning, expressing their outrage that the family had not been contacted and seeking a meeting to discuss their objections.
The family was concerned Mr Nascimento could be released earlier in Portugal than he would be here, said Ms Dillon.
Mr Luis Quartin, secretary at the Portuguese embassy in Dublin, said he was aware of Mr Nascimento's application but said the question of how he would be treated in Portugal was "a matter for the Portuguese judicial system".
If the Government supported Mr Nascimento's repatriation, said Ms Dillon, it would "make a mockery of our justice system, because he will have got exactly what he wanted". At the trial, evidence was heard that Mr Nascimento had stolen the €3,000 in order to return to Portugal.
"It just seems to us that the system bends over backwards to accommodate the needs of the criminal while the needs of the victim's family are ignored," said Ms Dillon.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said that when considering a prisoner's application for transfer out of the State, the Minister would "always take full account of differences in remission rates between this country and the potential administering country to ensure that a prisoner will not receive any substantial reduction of sentence due to more beneficial remission rates in the administering country".
Mr Nascimento is said to have applied for transfer because his mother could not afford to visit him in Ireland. "But we can never see Gráns again," said Ms Dillon.
She asked the public to e-mail the Department to support the family's call for refusal of Mr Nascimento's repatriation request, at minister@justice.ie
