A priest was reportedly stabbed in his own home when he refused to give money to a man claiming to be an asylum seeker who had asked to use his shower.

Father Jos Vanderlee, a 65-year-old priest in the north east Belgian town of Lanaken, was rushed to hospital with hand and tendon injuries. He is expected to make a full recovery.

According to local newspaper Het Nieuwsblad, a man who said he was an asylum seeker knocked on the vicar's door on Sunday and asked if he could use the shower.