A man in his thirties has been apprehended by the Gardai in relation to the murder of Ian Baitson, aged 33, in County Cork. The man was put into custody on Friday evening at a county Cork police precinct, in accordance with Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act of 1984.
Mr. Baitson tragically passed away Tuesday afternoon in Cork University Hospital (CUH) due to injuries from an assault in the Eurospar shop car park on Newtown Road, County Cork, the previous week. The assumed weapon was a samurai sword wielded by his attacker.
The Gardai officially reclassified the attack on Mr. Baitson as a murder investigation on Wednesday, once the post-mortem results were received.
A communique issued by Gardai on Friday evening provided no additional details regarding the arrest. It’s speculated that Baitson’s attacker knew him prior to the incident and might have contacted him to arrange a meeting at the location of the attack.
Mr. Baitson was critically injured when an artery in his leg was cut during the assault. Despite the efforts of paramedics and a medical consultant on site for nearly 40 minutes to stabilise him, he ultimately succumbed to his wounds at CUH.
Following emergency surgery, Mr. Baitson never regained awareness and he was kept on life support until his family chose to cease it on Tuesday.