A 31-year-old tattoo artist has been found guilty of the murder of a 33-year-old chef in Cobh, Co Cork, in March 2024.
Dylan Scannell, of O'Rahilly Street in Cobh, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denied murdering father-of-two Ian Baitson.
The jury of six women and six men at the Central Criminal Court in Cork returned a verdict of guilty this afternoon after deliberating for four hours and five minutes.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury for their service and excused them from any further jury service for a period of five years.
Mr Baitson died in hospital on 19 March 2024, four days after he had been attacked with a sword which had caused a "sub-total amputation" of his left leg and catastrophic bleeding.
Scannell will be sentenced to the mandatory sentence of life in prison by Ms Justice Creedon on 11 July, when victim impact statements will be heard.
The jury at the week-long trial heard evidence that Scannell struck Mr Baitson from behind the left knee with a sword at the Eurospar car park on Newtown Road in Cobh on 15 March 2024.
The medical evidence was that such was the ferocity of the attack that the sword cut through muscle, artery and bone. Mr Baitson was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery. However, he died four days later.
The court had heard evidence that Scannell had previously sent Mr Baitson a text where he threatened to chop off his fingers because of a drug debt, which he at one point claimed amounted to €2,500.
Mr Baitson had texted him back insisting that he only owed him a couple of hundred euro. The accused had admitted the manslaughter of Baitson. However, he denied murder.
On the night of the attack Mr Baitson had €185 in his pocket which he planned to give to Scannell. However, the evidence was that he never got the chance to hand over the money.
Instead, Scannell emerged from a car in the car park and attacked him with a sword.
Mr Baitson had told his mother that he was going to the shop that evening. He said that he would be back to the family home in Newtown in Cobh in about ten minutes. Twenty minutes later she heard sirens.
She was informed that Ian had been attacked and was at Cork University Hospital.
Evidence was also given at the trial by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster.
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She said that a postmortem examination indicated Mr Baitson had died of haemorrhage and shock complicated by brain damage due to lack of blood supply from an injury caused by sharp force.
What she described as a single blow from a sharp weapon like a samurai sword caused a fracture to the knee bone and sliced through the two bones below the knee, the tibia and fibula.
During the trial, Scannell had said that he was "sorry" for what had occurred. He stated that he had supplied Mr Baitson with drugs and had also loaned him money for a debt he owed to a third party.
He insisted Mr Baitson was his friend and that he would give anything to turn back the clock.
Scannell said that at the time he was having trouble himself as he owed money to another person.
He admitted that he was a drug addict during this period and was "paranoid" when he went to meet Mr Baitson in the car park.
He insisted that he brought the sword to the car park for "protection" and never intended to harm Mr Baitson.
"I just wanted to scare him. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I didn’t think that by hitting him in the leg I would cause him any damage. I want to say I’m sorry. I would do anything to take it back," he said.
Following the attack Scannell drove to an area near the harbour in Cobh and threw the sword in the water.
Under cross examination Prosecution Senior Counsel, Donal O’Sullivan, put it to Scannell that his remorse was superficial in nature.
The trial heard that Mr Baitson was a fit and healthy man who ran road races. He had given up alcohol six months prior to his death.
He was employed as a chef and had two children with whom he had a loving relationship.
