Police is Working on the US Citizen Lora Smith’s Rape Version
By Tea Mariamidze
Monday, July 16
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) confirms there emerged new circumstances in the Smiths murder case. Georgian media says the new detail is that Lora Smith might have been raped after her husband Ryan and their 4 year old son Caleb were shot in Georgia’s Khada Gorge, Dusheti.
Rustavi 2 and Imedi TV report that the preliminary results of the National Bureau of Expertise read that there were traces of sexual violence on Lora Smith’s body, found in the Ravine by the rescue team on July 6.
However, the police have not yet officially confirmed the version that Lora was raped.
Another unofficial version is that the 19 year old shepherd MalkhazKobauri, whowas detained for murder charges of the family, might have been linked to Russia, as he had a special pass, issued by the occupation regime of Georgia’s breakaway region South Ossetia, currently controlled by Russia, where Kobauri was spending 6 months every year.
Kobauri’s family says the young man really used to go to occupied Akhalgori, but as a shepherd, denying he has any ties with the Russian special services.
In addition, the family says they will no longer cooperate with Georgian investigative bodies, and will only provide information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States, which got involved into the investigation and is assisting Georgian law enforcers to reveal the truth.
Georgian media reports that the police found photos of dead Lora Smith in Kobauri’s mobile, which were taken after the woman fell into the ravine, near the waterfall.
Some shepherds told Rustavi 2 that the detained showed them the photos of Lora Smith, adding he found her body accidently. The local shepherds do not know anything else.
During the Mtskheta police questioning Malkhaz Kobauri said it was him who killed the Smiths, adding he then threw the empty cartridges into the river and tried to cover the crime, but later, he changed his testimony and declared at the court trial that he was innocent.
His lawyer, Davit Girgvliani says his defendant assures two men killed the Smiths, allegedly from the North Caucasus, who showed up in Khada Gorge in a black car.
Girgvliani added the men killed the family and did not let Kobauri help them, as they took his gun away.
However, not a single person, living in the Gorge can confirm that there was a strange black car in Dusheti on July 4, when the family was killed.
The Smith family had been living in Georgia for more than six years and they received Georgian citizenship in 2012.
They lived in the Marneuli region of eastern Georgia and locals describe them as very positive and helpful people.
Ryan Smith was the founder of rewoven, which creates Caucasian rugs with traditional methods to revive this lost art for the benefit of its weavers and their community.
