Barber (30) to plead guilty to manslaughter of Ian Baitson in Cobh, court told

Olivia Kelleher

A former barber and tattoo artist charged with murdering a father of two is to plead not guilty to murder but guilty of manslaughter, a court has heard.

Dylan Scannell (30), of O’Rahilly Street in Cobh, Co Cork, was previously charged with the murder of Ian Baitson (33) at Newtown Road in Cobh on March 15th, 2024.

On Monday at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork, defence counsel Tom Creed SC said Mr Scannell intended to enter a plea of not guilty to murder but guilty of the manslaughter of Mr Baitson.

However, he told Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford that the plea would not be acceptable to the State.

Prosecution counsel Donal O’Sullivan SC said the matter should proceed to trial by judge and jury on the murder charge.

However, he acknowledged that the plea of manslaughter was of assistance to the State. The murder trial is expected to be of a shorter duration as a result of the plea.

The trial has been listed for hearing on May 19th and a jury will be empanelled on that date. Mr Scannell (30) was present in court for the short hearing on Monday. However, he was not required to speak. He was remanded in further custody until his trial hearing.

Mr Scannell was first charged with the murder of Ian Baitson on March 25th, 2024.

He appeared before Midleton District Court on that occasion where evidence of arrest, charge and caution was given by Dt Sgt Gerard O’Shaughnessy. Det Sgt O’Shaughnessy said Mr Scannell made no reply when the charge was put to him under caution.

A later court hearing heard that Mr Scannell, who is a father of three, previously ran a barber and tattoo shop which closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ian Baitson died following an incident on the evening of March 15th, 2024 in the Eurospar car-park on the Newtown Road in Cobh. He was taken to Cork University Hospital (CUH) for treatment. He was pronounced dead at the hospital on March 19th.

A postmortem was subsequently carried at CUH, the results of which were not disclosed for operational reasons. The case was then formally upgraded to a murder.

Mr Baitson, who was a chef, is survived by his two children, his mother and brother, extended family and a large circle of friends. He was predeceased by his father.

At his funeral in St Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh, his brother Richard thanked gardaí, paramedics and the staff at the hospital for the assistance they had provided to the family as they “navigated through this devastating situation.”