A man has appeared in court charged in connection with the stabbing of a priest in Waterford on Sunday.
Anthony Sweeney, 22, from O'Connell Court, Penrose Lane, Waterford City, is charged with assault causing harm, under Section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act.
The incident happened at about 9:30am at a residence in Ardkeen, near University Hospital Waterford.The priest, a man in his 30s, received stab wounds to the shoulder, neck and head and but was discharged from hospital Sunday evening.
A Special Sitting of Waterford District Court heard Sweeney is alleged to have "scaled a wall" from the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford in Ardkeen and gained access to the nearby chaplains house where three priests resided.Once inside the house, he allegedly armed himself with a peeling knife from the kitchen and went upstairs.
There, he met a priest coming from the bathroom who he "stabbed six times", to the face, head and four times in the back as the man fled. The handle of the knife broke during the attack, Detective Garda Liam Harty told the court.
The priest, a man in his 30s, required hospital treatment following the attack but he was deemed fit enough to be discharged Sunday evening to continue his recovery at home.
Det Garda Harty said it was a "violent attack" and that it was interrupted by another priest in the house.
Sweeney left in response, jumping from the upper floor and injuring himself in the process.
He discarded his shoes and socks and returned to his bed in the department of psychiatry, Det Garda Harty told the court.
Sweeney was arrested shortly afterwards by gardaí.
Judge John Cheatle put the case back for mention in the District Court for Tuesday.
