Kingston Hotel killer admits punching South Coast man to death

Warren Craig Hordpenko died after a fight at the Kingston Hotel in July 2020. Photo: Supplied.

A Kingston Hotel patron made no attempt to fight back when tradesman Kerry Kourpanidis attacked him with a vicious frenzy of punches last year.

Kourpanidis, from Griffith, has now admitted he killed the South Coast’s Warren Craig Hordpenko in a less-than 46-second assault, reportedly after the Dalmeny man made Kourpanidis’s young daughter feel uncomfortable earlier in the evening.

While the exact facts are yet to be agreed, in previously tendered court documents police allege that at about 9pm on 5 July 2020, Kourpanidis entered the hotel’s pool room and ran straight at 44-year-old Mr Hordpenko, saying words to the effect of: “You f****d with my daughter, c***”.

Kourpanidis allegedly tackled him off a stool on to the ground and punched him in the temple, causing Mr Hordpenko’s head to bounce off the wall.

While Mr Hordpenko lay on the ground with his hands raised in an attempt to defend himself, Kourpanidis punched him in the head about seven times, even though his victim appeared to lose consciousness after the first two punches. He also punched him about six times in the ribs.

About 46 seconds after Kourpanidis entered the hotel, he left his victim lying on the floor and fled.

Kourpanidis was arrested in Civic four days after the assault.

In a short hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday (22 March), Kourpanidis, 36, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter causing the death Mr Hordpenko, for which he faces 20 years’ jail.

He entered his guilty plea over telephone as he is being held in custody.

Magistrate James Lawton committed Kourpanidis for sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court and remanded him in custody for his matter to be next heard on March 25.