Over €50,000 raised to return home body of Irish tourist murdered in Gori, Georgia

A total of €50,546 has been raised in just one day to return home the body of 28-year-old Irish tourist Tom Kennedy, who was murdered last week in the Georgian town of Gori.

The fundraiser was launched on a GoFundMe platform one day ago.

Organiser of the fundraiser Olivia Barrett said she wanted to bring his body home 'as soon as possible', but there were issues with Covid-19 restrictions.

Our aim is to raise money in order to fund the expenses associated with Tom's passing. These include but are not limited to repatriation, funeral cost, and for Tom's family to travel to Georgia to see the criminal trial of his death", said organiser of the fundraiser Olivia Barrett.

Five individuals have been detained for murdering Kennedy. Four out of the five individuals are accused of murdering 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 Gori on October 7. Later Kennedy joined them and they all together went to a bar to continue drinking. 

Later a verbal dispute led to a physical confrontation between the five Georgian citizens and Kennedy.

Following the dispute, 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.

Kennedy’s body was found near the village of Kvakhvreli in Gori municipality on October 8.

Local 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.