Man held in Waterford killing investigation

A man in his 30s was being held for questioning last night in relation to the death of a 21-year-old Waterford man who died on Saturday afternoon after he was stabbed.

Joseph Cummins, of The Willows, Cairnwood, Tramore in Co Waterford, died following an incident at 38 Lower Grange Road, a rented property in the city.

Gardai arrested a man, in his early 30s and not from Waterford, at 11.35pm on Saturday night and he was detained at Waterford Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

He was still being questioned at the time of press last night.

Mr Cummins was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital on Saturday at about 4.20pm and pronounced dead shortly after 5pm, according to gardaí.

The area was sealed off on Saturday pending the arrival of the Garda technical branch. The house was being examined yesterday.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring house was being inspected by a Garda search unit, who searched drainpipes, bins and drains. It is understood that the team were seeking a weapon used in the attack. A postmortem carried out on Mr Cummins at Waterford regional hospitalrevealed that he died from trauma injury. He had been living in Tramore with his family for some years.

Parish priest Fr Seán Melody said: "there is great shock in the community, sadness too. For someone to die in those circumstances, it's just unconscionable really."

Neighbours Eleanor and Paul O'Rourke said: "we've spoken to the neighbours on both sides and they're all just totally shocked. They can't believe that it's after happening."

It is understood that the house had been vacant of late, possibly up to early last week.

"We only noticed lights in the house on Thursday or Friday. It's scary to think that something like that could happen and it's scary when it does happen," said Ms O'Rourke.

Waterford city Cllr Jack Walsh (Lab) said a "severe sense of apprehension had gripped the area" as the full facts were not yet known. "It's such a quiet residential area; there's an older population there."

He added: "anybody with information on this should help the gardaí to get to the bottom of this."

Gardaí in Waterford will today continue their investigations. Anyone with information can contact them on 051-305300.