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UK victim's flatmate denies all
30/11/2007 20:26 - (SA)
Rome - An American student under arrest in
Italy in connection with the murder of her British flatmate
Meredith Kercher maintained her innocence on Friday before a
judge deciding whether to keep her in jail.
Kercher, a 21-year-old exchange student from Leeds, was
found dead in her bedroom in the university town of Perugia on
November 2 with her throat cut.
Police believe Kercher died because she refused to have sex
with one or more of her assailants.
The main suspects are 20-year-old Amanda Knox from the
University of Washington, her Italian boyfriend Raffaele
Sollecito, aged 24, and a man from the Ivory Coast who left for
Germany straight after the killing.
"I am innocent, I was at Raffaele's house the whole time,"
Knox was quoted by Italian news agencies as telling the court.
Shockwaves around Europe
Knox had initially said she was in the flat when Kercher was
killed and covered her ears to block out the screams, then said
she was with Sollecito, who also denies any wrongdoing.
Knox had first accused a Congolese man who runs a bar in
Perugia of the killing. He has now been freed. Knox told the
court she was sorry for implicating him.
The chief suspect is now a 20-year-old man who was arrested
on a train in Germany 10 days ago.
Germany is delaying his extradition pending Italy's
assurances that if found guilty and sentenced to life, his case
will be reviewed after 20 years, as German law stipulates.
The case has resonated around Europe, where thousands of
young people like Kercher study under the Erasmus exchange
programme. Perugia is a choice destination for such students.
The court ruled that Knox should not be granted bail.
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