Five individuals detained for murdering Irish tourist Tom Kennedy in the east Georgian town of Gori have been denied bail by a Gori District Court earlier today.
Four out of the five individuals are accused of murdering 28-year-old Tom Kennedy, while one has been charged for failing to report the crime.
Police say that the detainees were drinking alcohol in an underground passage in the city of Gori on October 7. Later 28-year-old Irish citizen Tom Kennedy joined them and all together went to a bar to continue drinking.
Later a verbal dispute led to a physical confrontation between the five Georgian citizens and Tom Kennedy.
Following the confrontation, the persons involved in the conflict went to the Mtkvari River in Gori, where the five detainees attacked the Irish citizen and then threw him into the river. Then the attackers took Kennedy’s mobile phone out of his pocket and fled the scene of the crime.
Police officers found Kennedy’s mobile phone at a pawnshop several days later after the murder.
The body of Tom Kennedy was found dumped near the village of Kvakhvreli in Gori Municipality on October 8.
TV channel Mtavari Arkhi reported on October 11 that Kennedy arrived in Georgia on August 30. He was a student at a local music college.