Homophobe murders iconic trans model in horrific hate-filled attack inside her own home

A 26-year-old man has been jailed for life for the savage murder of a model.

Kesaria Abramidze, 37, was killed the day after 's parliament passed a divisive new law banning ' propaganda'. She suffered more than 28 stab wounds and injuries during the horrific attack in her own home in the capital, . Murderer Beka Jaiani, 26, was detained at the city’s airport as he attempted to escape the country, and was handed a life sentence for "with particular cruelty and aggravating circumstances on gender grounds". He was also convicted of gender identity-based violence under a soon-to-be-abolished hate crime law.

Jaiani was reportedly in a relationship with the popular model, actor, and influencer, who had more than half a million followers on social media.

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But he had turned abusive and began to target her with a barrage of insults, including calling her "an artificial woman".

She was heard shouting "Don't hit me, don't hit me" during the beating that led to her death.

A witness said he repeatedly checked her phone, stopped her from communicating with other people, and called her a "mistake of nature", and "ugly".

Describing how her character had changed following her boyfriend's abuse, they said: "She rarely left the house, which was due to Beka Jaiani.

"Beka humiliated her, told her that she was a man and beat her because of that - he beat her almost every day.

"She showed me her bruised body, the reason for which was a message on her phone, which Jaiani asked to show, and after she refused, he beat her."

After the pair broke up, she had agreed to allow him back in her flat if he let her post their joint photos on social media.

But he was "afraid his friends would see the photos".

A report said: “He is actually one of those who beat people at the LGBT pride in Tbilisi, an open homophobe.”

He was accused of bringing a knife to her flat with the premeditated intention to kill her when she expected they would get back together.

Tributes poured in from inside Georgia and abroad when Ms Abramidze was killed in September last year.

Maia Otarashvili, a Georgian political scientist, wrote on X: "Kesaria was iconic! Provocative, wise, incredibly brave! A trailblazer for Georgia’s trans rights".

A service was also held in her memory by the All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, New York, after the Georgian Orthodox Church in her home country denied her family a funeral.

Jaiani did not attend the court for the verdict.

The conviction is expected to be the last under existing hate crime provisions that refer to gender identity.

The country’s parliament has already passed laws that will remove the terms "gender" and "gender identity" from all legislation.

Opposition groups in Georgia say the human rights crackdown on LGBT groups has been motivated by the government's increasingly close relationship with , which passed a similar 'anti-gay law' back in 2013.

On May 17, Georgia will mark its second-ever 'Family Purity Day' after introducing the public holiday last year in an attempt to counter the counter the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which also falls on the same day.