Prosecutors are set to withdraw the murder charge laid over a fatal bashing at the Kingston Hotel last year, after the tradesman who left his victim to die on the poolroom floor confessed to a lesser offence.
Griffith man Kerry Kourpanidis, 36, pleaded guilty on Monday to the manslaughter of 44-year-old Warren Craig Hordpenko, who was beaten to death at the south Canberra pub in July 2020.
Several members of Kourpanidis' family watched on from the public gallery in the ACT Magistrates Court as he entered the plea over the phone from Canberra's jail, where he has been in custody since his arrest a few days after the incident.
The plea followed months of negotiations between the 36-year-old's lawyer, Gavin Mansfield, and prosecutor Patrick Dixon.
The precise facts of Kourpanidis' crime are yet to be agreed, but police alleged in documents previously tendered to the court that he punched the victim up to 13 times in less than 46 seconds.
The documents show that the tradesman had dinner with members of his family at the Kingston Hotel on July 5 last year, crossing paths at some stage with Mr Hordpenko, a South Coast man who was in the ACT for work.
According to police, Mr Hordpenko was "noticeably intoxicated and was annoying other patrons" throughout the evening.
Court documents detail a number of occasions where the victim was said to be "making a nuisance of himself", with the triangle from a pool table featuring in many of them.
Mr Hordpenko walked around with the object on his head at times, according to other pubgoers, while he also held it between the legs of a man who was trying to use a urinal.
It is unclear exactly what happened when Mr Hordpenko came across Kourpanidis, but court documents show the latter left the Kingston Hotel to take his six-year-old daughter home to bed just after 8pm.
Kourpanidis then returned in a rage less than an hour later, according to police, charging at Mr Hordpenko and tackling him off a stool in the pub's poolroom.
Two men who were in the room at the time told investigators that Kourpanidis said words to the effect of, "You f---ed with my daughter, c---" as he unleashed a flurry of blows.
Police alleged that Kourpanidis punched Mr Hordpenko six or seven times in the head, as well as five or six times in the ribs, using both fists.
Mr Hordpenko made no attempts to fight back, according to the witnesses, who said he appeared to be losing consciousness after just one or two strikes.
Mr Hordpenko's head was said to have bounced off a wall after one particular punch.
While there were no CCTV cameras in the poolroom, surveillance footage showed Kourpanidis leaving the pub again just 46 seconds after he had re-entered.
The 36-year-old was arrested four days after the fatal assault, having earlier told his partner in a phone call intercepted by police that it was "a big relief" there was no video evidence of the incident.
Kourpanidis also confided in his former partner about bashing a "very drunk" man who had allegedly upset their daughter with inappropriate comments.
Magistrate James Lawton on Monday committed Kourpanidis to the ACT Supreme Court, with a date for his sentencing on the manslaughter charge to be set as soon as this Thursday morning.
Kourpanidis will remain behind bars in the interim.
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