Jury to Deliver Verdict on Smith Family Murder Case This Month
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Tuesday, March 19
The jury court is scheduled to deliver verdict regarding the high-profile murder case of American Smith Family in Georgia at the end of the month, the prosecution says.
If a 19-year-old shepherd Malkhaz Kobauri is found guilty for the murder of Ryan and four-year-old Caleb Smith and murder and rape of Lora Smith, he might be sentenced for life.
The Prosecutor's Office says that the parties will submit the final words on March 25 and following it, the jury will meet at a jury room to reach a verdict.
"Prosecutors questioned about 40 witnesses at the trial and examined all the written and substantive evidence,” the office says.
Kobauri does not admit to the crime and shifts blame onto “several foreigners.”
The Smith family went missing in early July 2018.
The bodies of Ryan and Lora Smith were found on July 7th in the Khada Gorge of Dusheti region, in Eastern Georgia.
Initially, police said that Ryan and Lora Smith had no signs of violence on their bodies. However, later the Interior Ministry stated that Ryan Smith was shot dead and as he was found in the river in a very poor condition the shots were invisible at first glance.
Ryan Smith was shot twice, while Lora Smith’s body was found next to a waterfall.
Kobauri was detained on July 11 and he himself showed the site to law enforcers where a four-year-old Caleb’s body was buried.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that initially Kobauri admitted to the crime, but later he said that “two foreigners” killed the Smiths. A bit later he started speaking about “several foreigners.”
The case prosecutor initially stated that the dispute between Kobauri and Ryan Smith emerged because of a rifle the shepherd carried with him. The prosecutor claimed that Ryan Smith told the shepherd to be cautious with the weapon, especially at the presence of a child.
At first, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that Lora Smith was likely to fall down from the cliff when she tried to escape. However, on 9 November 2018 Kobauri was charged with rape and murder of Lora Smith.
Now sexual motives have been named as the possible motive of the crime by the prosecution.
Kobauri has been checked and he is mentally fit.
Ryan and Lora Smith had dual Georgia and American citizenship and had been living in Georgia’s eastern Marneuli region for more than 10 years, where they had a business producing Azerbaijani rugs.
