Murder accused threatened to chop off chef's fingers in text before fatal attack

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

A man charged with the murder of a 33-year-old chef sent him a text threatening to chop off his fingers just hours before he was fatally attacked in a car park, a court in Cork has heard.
Dylan Scannell, 30, is on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in the city charged with the murder of Ian Baitson in a car park in Cobh, Co Cork in March of last year.
Mr Scannell has pleaded guilty to manslaughter. However, he denies murdering the father of two.
The trial previously heard evidence that Mr Baitson suffered a 'mostly severed (left) leg' and 'catastrophic bleeding' after he was attacked by a man with a sword in the Eurostar car park on March 15, 2024. He died in Cork University Hospital four days later.
On Wednesday, evidence was given of texts and phone calls between the two men. Detective Garda David Kelleher completed a forensic extraction of a mobile phone believed to be that of Ian Baitson. The mobile phone was found in the Eurospar car park in Newtown Road in Cobh in the aftermath of the attack.
The court was told that over 300 interactions occurred on WhatsApp between Mr Baitson and Mr Scannell over a period covering August 2023 to March 2024. A number of the messages consisted of the men making plans to meet up so that Ian Baitson could pay off a debt he owed to Mr Scannell.
In the period before his death, Mr Baitson maintained he owed Scannell 'less than €500'. However, Mr Scannell insisted that the deceased man owed him €2,500.
On February 20, 2024 Scannell texted Mr Baitson that he was 'delusional' after Baitson said he was being 'snappy' and queried the amount owed.
On March 10, 2024 Mr Baitson texted Scannell that he would give him €185 that Thursday and then they were 'done'.
'I pay this €185 on Thursday, that is the end of it. You can delete my name, we are done bud.'
Mr Scannell, of O'Rahilly Street in Cobh called Mr Baitson a 'cheeky pr***' in response. He said that he had stopped a fella from cutting off his private parts a few months earlier.
He subsequently called Mr Baitson a 'scumbag'. On March 14, 2024, Mr Scannell texted Mr Baitson and said he was going to call to his home. Mr Baitson texted back the following day about a text Mr Scannell had sent him of a sexual nature and asked was it a 'threat'.
Mr Scannell told him to call it whatever he wanted.
'I am going to smash you when I see you.' A few texts later, Mr Scannell messaged Mr Baitson saying: 'Who do you think you are? Think you are a hard man? I am going to chop your fingers off, you smart c***."
The pair arranged to meet that night (the evening of March 15, 2024) in the Eurospar car park in Cobh. The last text Mr Baitson sent Scannell was later that evening, when he told the accused he was on the way to the car park.
Evidence was given by Helen Goggin, the mother of the deceased, that Ian had told her he would be back home in a matter of minutes on the evening of March 15, 2024. At about 8.40pm that day he told her he was going to Eurospar. Twenty minutes later, Ms Goggin heard sirens. She was told her son was en route to hospital.
She said that four days later, they had to turn off the machine at the hospital. Her son was declared dead.
The case will continue on Thursday morning. It is being presided over by Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and is expected to last a week.