Man appears in court charged with murder of Ian Baitson

Olivia Kelleher

A man has appeared before Midleton District Court in Co Cork charged in connection with the murder of Ian Baitson.

Dylan Scannell (30), of O’Rahilly Street, Cobh, was charged with the murder of Mr Baitson on Newtown Road in the town.

Detective Sergeant Gerard O’Shaughnessy told the court he arrested Mr Scannell at 1.26pm on Sunday, charging him with the murder of the father of two.

Det Sgt O’Shaughnessy said Mr Scannell made no reply when the charge was put to him under caution.

Defence solicitor Ken Murray applied for and was granted free legal aid. Superintendent Adrian Gamble said there was no objection to legal aid being granted in the case.

Judge Colm Roberts acceded to the State’s request to remand Mr Scannell to a sitting in Mallow District Court on Tuesday, when he will appear by video link.

Mr Scannell was dressed in dark clothes and did not speak during the brief hearing. Applications for bail must be heard by the High Court in relation to murder charges.

Mr Baitson was injured in the alleged incident shortly before 9pm on March 15th in the Eurospar car park on Newtown Road in Cobh.

He was taken to Cork University Hospital for treatment, where he was pronounced dead on March 19th.

A post-mortem examination was carried out last Tuesday and the case was upgraded to a murder investigation.