A man has been found NOT guilty of murdering a psychiatric patient in Waterford by reason of insanity.

Paul Cuddihy stabbed Maria O’Brien over 100 times at a group home they shared at St. Otteran’s hospital in September 2014.

The 38-year-old suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and his trial heard he was having a psychotic episode at the time.

The jury returned with the special verdict after deliberating for just over half an hour.

He’ll now be assessed in the Central Mental Hospital before medical experts present the court with the best course of action for him.

Speaking outside court afterwards, Maria O'Brien's son Patrick Halley described his mother as a warm and caring person who will never be forgotten:

Our courts correspondent Frank Greaney has more: