Georgia shepherd denies killing US couple, child

Jul 11, 2018

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.

SHEPHERD KILLS FAMILY
 
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.

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