Canberra man Kerry Kourpanidis has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after attacking another man at the Kingston Hotel last year.
Key points:
- Kerry Kourpanidis punched Warren Hordpenko repeatedly in the head during a dispute at the pub last year
- He left the hotel before an ambulance was called and Hordpenko died shortly after
- Kourpanidis was initially charged with murder but has now pleaded guilty to manslaughter
The 36-year-old was originally charged with murder after his assault on Warren Hordpenko, 44, in the hotel’s pool room in July 2020.
Court documents reveal Kourpanidis had been at the pub with his partner, six-year-old daughter and another person in the hours before the attack.
During that time, the pair crossed paths.
Other patrons told police Mr Hordpenko, who was from the New South Wales south coast town of Dalmeny, had become increasingly drunk and was annoying those around him.
One group asked him to leave them alone after he failed to respond to polite cues.
Kourpanidis went home with his family before returning and accosting Mr Hordpenko in the pool room, in front of two other men.
The two witnesses told police Kourpanidis launched an accusation at Mr Hordpenko.
“You f***ed with my daughter, c***,” he allegedly said.
The men said Kourpanidis hit Mr Hordpenko repeatedly in the head with his fists until he was on the ground and unconscious.
Kourpanidis then left before an ambulance was called.
Police tapped phone, scour footage
There was no CCTV footage of the attack but police were able to identify Kourpanidis from footage around the hotel.
Police also tapped Kourpanidis’s phone and recorded a conversation in which he told others the man he hit was not the man who had died.
“It’s a different area, no CCTV, the person I had a confrontation with … you know, was probably a different person as well,” he said in the phone call.
Initially, police told the court they would need to interview more than 100 witnesses as they gathered evidence for a murder trial.
But during a hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court today, Kourpanidis, attending via telephone from Canberra’s jail, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
He will be sentenced in the ACT Supreme Court later this year.