The shepherd, who brutally murdered the American family in Georgia, received a life sentence

The court in the Georgian city of Gori closed the press meeting and passed a sentence on the local shepherd Malkhaz Kobauri. He was given a life sentence.

On the eve of the jury convicted him of rape and murder of an American Laura Smith, as well as the murder of her husband and four-year-old son. Jurors recognized him guilty of four crimes - rape, premeditated murder with special cruelty, premeditated murder of two or more persons and premeditated murder in order to conceal another crime.

Protected insists on the shepherd's innocence. Mother of the convicted shepherd Marina Martiashvili also does not believe that her son committed a crime.

The Disappearance of the Smiths

American Ryan, Laura Smith and their four-year-old son disappeared on July 4 of the year 2018 in the Dusheti region (Mtskheta-Mtianeti region). On the eve of Laura called her friend and said that they were going to the mountains for two days. The search for the family began on July 6, but at the same time, one of Lau Smith’s bodies was found near one of the waterfalls in the Hada Gorge. The body of her husband the police found the next day. Where the murdered child lies, a few days later, the then suspect in the murder of 19, the summer shepherd Malkhaz Kobauri, pointed out. It turned out that he hid the child under a snowdrift a few meters from the crime scene.

The police report said 44-year-old Ryan Smith died from a gunshot wound, and the boy was also shot dead. There was no sign of murder on 43-year-old Laura Smith's body - presumably, the woman fell off a cliff. However, an examination of the body of the deceased showed that she had been raped.

According to the prosecutor's office, Kobauri met the Smith family in the gorge, who asked him to accompany them to the Alaverdi waterfall. On the way, the shepherd unexpectedly shot Ryan Smith first in the back and then in the head. Then he killed the child with a point-blank shot. The shepherd then raped Laura Smith.

A gun found in 30 meters from the place of temporary residence of the shepherds. It was wrapped in a raincoat.

Who are the Smiths

California native Ryan Smith lived in Azerbaijan in 2002-2005 and studied the Azerbaijani language and culture. In 2005, he returned to the United States, where he met Laura and married her.

The couple moved to Georgia to start a project of their dreams in a predominantly ethnic Azerbaijani region in the south of the country. In the year 2012, in addition to the American, they received Georgian citizenship.

The Smiths lived in the small town of Marneuli for more than six years.. They were considered here as their own. They were members of the Protestant community. Laura taught English at a local school, and Ryan dreamed of reviving an ancient carpet weaving culture. He studied it for a long time in local villages and finally launched a project that gave work to local women.

They speak of him as a kind, honest, and sympathetic person. Remembering the Smiths, people who knew them cry. Smith remained in YouTube:

Loss for the city

For many Marneuli residents, the tragic death of an American family was a great loss. According to them, the Smiths immediately joined the urban community and maintained good relations with the locals.

The Ryan project gave the opportunity to earn many women in the village on the outskirts of Marneuli, where there is no work at all. The Smiths also planned to open a playground in the city at their own expense.

After the murder in Marneuli, a memory evening organized by the locals was held in the house of the Smith family. As a token of the memory of a family from the USA killed in the mountains of Georgia, they called for the opening of a playground in the city.

Initially, the case was investigated as murder through negligence. However, after receiving the data from the medical examination, he was reclassified as a deliberate murder under aggravating circumstances.

Shepherd version

Kobauri's parents say their son is innocent.

“Who saw it? Who is the witness? It's all a lie, a concocted story. Everything is fake,” the detainee’s mother, Mariam Martiashvili, told the Imedi television company.

According to the shepherd, the Smith family was killed by two men who allegedly threatened Kobauri and his family members and forced them to take the blame.

The shepherd claims that they arrived in the gorge on a black SUV and after the murder, after talking with him, they fled in an unknown direction.

“I didn’t kill them, there were two strangers, they killed and threatened me that they would kill my brothers and sisters,” Kobauri previously stated.

The mother of the convicted shepherd, Marina Martiashvili, said before the court hearing on March 27 that her son was not guilty: “It’s a shame. How could he have committed so many crimes alone? There were lies in the prosecutor's evidence. We can't talk about what happened there. It was a well-planned murder. They connected the evidence in such a way that Malkhaz was found guilty. The jury was under pressure from the prosecutor's office."

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