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GEORGIA-POLICE-CRIME-MURDER
Georgia shepherd denies killing US couple, child
TBILISI, July 11, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A Georgian shepherd, who has been
arrested over the killing of a US-Georgian couple and their four-year-old
son, denied the charges on Wednesday, pinning the crime on “two foreigners”
instead.
Malkhaz Kobauri, 19, was arrested on Monday and police said that he pleaded
guilty to killing the Smith family in Georgia’s mountainous Dusheti region.
But on Wednesday, the accused — who faces life in prison if convicted —
said he never admitted guilt.
“I didn’t kill them. There were two men, foreigners, they killed (the
Smiths),” he said in court in the town of Mtskheta outside the capital
Tbilisi.
“They threatened to kill my family,” he said in televised remarks without
providing further details.
Investigators said the shepherd shot Ryan Smith and his four-year-old son
dead with a hunting gun, while Laura fell into a ravine as she attempted to
flee and died.
Their bodies were found by rescuers sent to the Dusheti region on Friday
after authorities received reports the couple had gone missing.
The Smiths had lived in the pro-Western Caucasus nation since 2006 and in
2012 acquired citizenship.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1643 hrs