A man has appeared in court charged with stabbing a priest at a chaplains’ house near University Hospital Waterford (UHW) in Ardkeen.

Anthony Sweeney (22), from O’Connell Court, Penrose Lane, Waterford City, appeared before a special sitting of Waterford District Court. It is alleged that he “scaled a wall” from the department of psychiatry at UHW and gained access to the nearby chaplains’ house, where three priests live.

Mr Sweeney is alleged to have armed himself with a peeling knife taken from the kitchen before going upstairs. The court heard he met a priest coming from the bathroom who he “stabbed six times” in the face and head, and four times in the back. The handle of the knife broke during the attack, Det Garda Liam Harty said.

He said the “violent” and “completely unprovoked” attack was interrupted by another priest, which prompted Mr Sweeney to flee by jumping from the upper floor of the house, injuring himself in the process. The accused discarded his shoes and socks and returned to his bed in the department of psychiatry, where he was arrested shortly afterwards, the detective added.