A nurse reported that a doctor from her own hospital had raped and sexually assaulted her. She said she and Gardaí tried to engage University Hospital Limerick “to no avail”. The hospital offered her a transfer. Dr Louay Kila continued working until his medical registration was suspended by consent about a year after the offences.
What the jury established
Kila, a Moroccan national and senior registrar at UHL, encountered the nurse while they were separately socialising on 2 March 2024. She became intoxicated and fell asleep at an apartment. The court heard that Kila forced a kiss, was photographed kissing her while she slept and used her Snapchat account to send the image to the man she was dating.
The woman later awoke to Kila raping her. He returned and sexually assaulted her despite repeated demands that he stop. The following day, while she attended a Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, he sent a message presenting himself as concerned about her welfare. Judge Sean Gillane described that message as deeply manipulative.
The rejected account
Two months after initially answering no comment, Kila claimed there had been consensual contact and alleged the woman invented the complaint from embarrassment. A jury unanimously rejected that account after approximately four hours. On 13 March 2026, Kila received eight years for rape and a concurrent four years for sexual assault. The concurrent term must not be added to produce a false twelve-year total. He had no reported previous convictions and became subject to sex-offender registration.
The admitted institutional failure
Kila was charged with sexual assault in March 2024 and rape in October. His consensual Medical Council suspension occurred only in March 2025. The victim said returning to UHL made her physically ill and that she felt forced to transfer because Kila remained working.
After conviction, HSE Mid West admitted that Kila should have been suspended when it learned of the assault, that prompt action did not occur and that its failure added to the victim’s suffering. It announced a review. The Medical Council said a regulatory process remained ongoing. No published outcome of either process was located by 25 July 2026.
Nationality and professional status
The record establishes Moroccan nationality and UHL employment, but not Kila’s entry date, immigration-permission category, a foreign criminal history or any hiring-vetting defect. The proven institutional failure begins after the assault was reported. Any post-sentence deportation remains a prospective legal assessment, not an automatic outcome.
Public cost
At the Irish Prison Service’s 2024 staffed-space rate of €99,072, the eight-year term represents €792,576; an illustrative term after ordinary one-quarter remission represents €594,432. This €594,000–€793,000 range is not a personal invoice and excludes Garda, court, medical, regulatory, victim-support and immigration costs.
The HSE has not disclosed Kila’s final clinical shift, patient contacts or salary paid after notification. Applying a generic doctor pay scale would be speculation; the actual amount should be published.
Chronology
- 2 March 2024: Rape and sexual assault.
- March 2024: Arrest and sexual-assault charge; reports differ by four days on the arrest date.
- October 2024: Rape charge.
- March 2025: Consensual suspension from medical register.
- 5 March 2026: Unanimous guilty verdicts.
- 13 March 2026: Eight-year operative sentence; HSE admitted failure.
Questions the institutions should answer
- When did UHL first learn of the allegations?
- Why was the nurse offered a transfer while Kila remained?
- What duties and patient contacts did he have afterwards?
- When was the Medical Council notified, and was an emergency High Court suspension considered?
- What salary and allowances were paid after notification?
- Will the HSE review and regulatory outcome be published?
- Will an immigration assessment be completed before release?