Pair found guilty of Kercher murder
The family of Meredith Kercher’s murderer Amanda Knox are to immediately begin the process of appealing her guilty verdict, their spokesman has said.
The family of Meredith Kercher’s murderer Amanda Knox are to immediately begin the process of appealing her guilty verdict, their spokesman has said.
American Knox, 22, from Seattle, was found guilty of stabbing the British student to death after what started as an extreme sex game.
She was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Her Italian former lover, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, was also found guilty of the murder, and sexual assault, and was jailed for 25 years.
Knox’s parents, Curt Knox and Edda Mellas, said in a statement after the verdict: “Amanda is innocent and we will continue to fight for her freedom. We are extremely disappointed in the verdict rendered… against our daughter.
“While we always knew this was a possibility, we find it difficult to accept this verdict when we know that she is innocent, and that the prosecution has failed to explain why there is no evidence of Amanda in the room where Meredith was so horribly and tragically murdered.”
Prosecutors say Sollecito held the 21-year-old Leeds University student down while Knox cut her throat with a six-inch kitchen knife.
They committed the killing in Perugia, Italy, with small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, 22, who was jailed for murder and sexual violence last October for 30 years.
Knox’s parents criticised the media for the way their daughter had been portrayed, alleging this swayed the judges and jurors. They said in their statement: “It appears clear to us that the attacks on Amanda’s character in much of the media and by the prosecution had a significant impact on the judges and jurors and apparently overshadowed the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case against her.”
Knox and Sollecito were told they must pay a total of 4.4 million euros to the Kercher family as compensation for Miss Kercher’s murder. Knox was told she must also pay 40,000 euros compensation to Patrick Lumumba for defaming the local barman when she falsely accused him of the murder.
The semi-naked body of Miss Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit, in her room in Perugia in November 2007. She had been sharing a house with Knox, who was also a student, on her year abroad in the Umbrian hilltop town.
