Man (60s) charged with fatal stabbing in Kilkenny city to appear in court

The man has been charged in connection with the fatal assault on Monday.

He is set to appear before Carlow District Court this afternoon at 2pm.

The victim, named locally as Rafal Bednarczyk Jacyna (37), died in a house in Meadow Way on the outskirts of Kilkenny city on Monday evening after apparently being stabbed in the leg.

Emergency services were contacted but Mr Jacyna was pronounced dead at the scene.

The man in his 60s was arrested nearby and was taken to Kilkenny garda station for questioning.

It is understood he was well known to the victim.

The scene of the fatal stabbing remained sealed off yesterday morning as a forensic examination got under way, and neighbours said they were shocked at the news.

The Meadow Way estate, just off the Castlecomer Road and close to Kilkenny city, is a quiet and mature cul de sac dating from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Behind the garda tape, the front door of the house where the attack happened remained slightly open and some lights were on upstairs.

A bicycle was parked against the garage doors.

Neighbours said the house was rented and the man who lived there had been there for a number of years.

“They are Polish, and people come and go to the house, but they mainly keep to themselves,” said one local resident. “We acknowledge each other and say ‘hello’, and they go about their lives.”

“Many of the residents here would be elderly and we help each other out when help is needed, and nothing like this has ever happened here before,” said one woman.

“Everything was quiet and normal, and nobody heard any commotion, and the next thing there were gardaí filling the road. We didn’t know what had happened. Then one of the neighbours told us, and the gardaí were knocking from door to door. That’s how we found out for sure.

“It’s terribly sad. Someone has died. It’s awful.”

Mr Jacyna’s body was removed from the house just before noon yesterday and transported to University Hospital in Waterford, where a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out by State Pathologist Dr Sally Anne Cullis.

Local Fianna Fáil councillor Andrew McGuinness said the community in St John’s parish and throughout Kilkenny were shocked and deeply upset that something so horrific could happen in their community.

“It’s a quiet area, so it’s deeply, deeply upsetting for the local community here,” Mr McGuinness said.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the deceased, and friends, and neighbours and loved ones. As I said, it’s a very quiet, mature settled residential area. It must be particularly shocking on that account.

“There’s a lot of elderly people living in the area too. So for something like this to happen on your doorstep is shocking and very, very upsetting. I’ve constituency offices nearby and from talking to local neighbours and the community everyone is just an absolute shock this morning.”

Local Kilkenny city councillor Martin Brett said he lived near the housing estate where the incident happened and people in the area are shocked.

“It’s a very quiet residential area and for something like this to happen is horrendous,” he told Independent.ie.

“We’re shocked and horrified that something like this could happen.”