March 27, 2008
Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast immigrant suspected of involvement in the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia last November, has incriminated the two other suspects, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, by telling police that they were also at the scene of the crime.
Mr Guede is the only one of the three to have admitted he was at the whitewashed cottage on the evening of the murder, while insisting that he did not commit the murder. Ms Knox, an American student from Seattle who shared the cottage with Ms Kercher and two female Italian students, and Mr Sollecito, her Italian boyfriend, maintain they spent the evening and the night of the killing at his flat in Perugia.
However Mr Guede, who was questioned for three hours yesterday, said he had seen both Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito at the cotttage. He told investigators that he had seen Ms Knox "at the door of the house" and that he had seen Mr Sollecito inside it brandishing a knife. He is reported to have given police a description of the clothes Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito were wearing.
Mr Guede, who fled to Germany after the murder but was arrested and extradited back to Italy, has until now claimed that Ms Kercher was attacked by an intruder while he was in the bathroom, and that he then struggled with the intruder, who he did not know and who was armed with a knife. He also said in earlier testimony that he had heard the voice of a woman outside the house.
He has now identified the intruder as Mr Sollecito and the woman as Ms Knox. He continued to maintain yesterday that he was not involved in Ms Kercher's death. Corriere della Sera suggested Mr Guede had decided to speak out against the other two suspects because they had "more or less explicitly pointed the finger of blame at him".
Last week police removed a Harry Potter book and two guitars in a renewed search at the crime scene, where Ms Kercher was found on 2 November half naked under a duvet in her bedroom with stab wounds to her neck and throat.
Next Tuesday a court will decide whether Ms Knox, Mr Sollecito and Mr Guede should be kept in custody. None of them has been charged, and all can be kept in jail for up to a year before charges are brought.
Prosecutors have said Ms Kercher was killed while resisting a sexual attack, although a report issued last month by the coroner, Dr Luca Lalli, said it could not be determined "with certainty" if there had been "sexual violence or attempted sexual violence". He said bruises on Ms Kercher's body suggested she had had "hurried" sexual intercourse, possibly against her will.
DNA tests show that Mr Guede, whose fingerprint was found in bloodstains on Ms Kercher's pillow, had sex with Ms Kercher the night she died, according to investigators. He has never denied this, but maintains they had agreed to have sex.
Ms Knox has given conflicting statements, at first saying she was not at the cottage the night of the murder. She later admitted to prosecutors that she was present and had to cover her ears to muffle Ms Kercher's screams, but later still reverted to her first version.
According to prosecutors, Ms Knox's blood was found on a bathroom tap at the cottage, placing her there on the night of the killing or the morning after. A bloody footprint near Ms Kercher's body was matched to Mr Sollecito's trainers, placing him at the crime scene as well.
Defence lawyers however maintain Mr Sollecito’s shoes do not match the footprint, and that there is no definitive or reliable evidence linking a kitchen knife found in Mr Sollecito's flat with both Ms Knox's and Ms Kercher's DNA on it to Ms Kercher's wounds.
However Mr Guede, who was questioned for three hours yesterday, said he had seen both Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito at the cotttage. He told investigators that he had seen Ms Knox "at the door of the house" and that he had seen Mr Sollecito inside it brandishing a knife. He is reported to have given police a description of the clothes Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito were wearing.
Mr Guede, who fled to Germany after the murder but was arrested and extradited back to Italy, has until now claimed that Ms Kercher was attacked by an intruder while he was in the bathroom, and that he then struggled with the intruder, who he did not know and who was armed with a knife. He also said in earlier testimony that he had heard the voice of a woman outside the house.
He has now identified the intruder as Mr Sollecito and the woman as Ms Knox. He continued to maintain yesterday that he was not involved in Ms Kercher's death. Corriere della Sera suggested Mr Guede had decided to speak out against the other two suspects because they had "more or less explicitly pointed the finger of blame at him".
Last week police removed a Harry Potter book and two guitars in a renewed search at the crime scene, where Ms Kercher was found on 2 November half naked under a duvet in her bedroom with stab wounds to her neck and throat.
Next Tuesday a court will decide whether Ms Knox, Mr Sollecito and Mr Guede should be kept in custody. None of them has been charged, and all can be kept in jail for up to a year before charges are brought.
Prosecutors have said Ms Kercher was killed while resisting a sexual attack, although a report issued last month by the coroner, Dr Luca Lalli, said it could not be determined "with certainty" if there had been "sexual violence or attempted sexual violence". He said bruises on Ms Kercher's body suggested she had had "hurried" sexual intercourse, possibly against her will.
DNA tests show that Mr Guede, whose fingerprint was found in bloodstains on Ms Kercher's pillow, had sex with Ms Kercher the night she died, according to investigators. He has never denied this, but maintains they had agreed to have sex.
Ms Knox has given conflicting statements, at first saying she was not at the cottage the night of the murder. She later admitted to prosecutors that she was present and had to cover her ears to muffle Ms Kercher's screams, but later still reverted to her first version.
According to prosecutors, Ms Knox's blood was found on a bathroom tap at the cottage, placing her there on the night of the killing or the morning after. A bloody footprint near Ms Kercher's body was matched to Mr Sollecito's trainers, placing him at the crime scene as well.
Defence lawyers however maintain Mr Sollecito’s shoes do not match the footprint, and that there is no definitive or reliable evidence linking a kitchen knife found in Mr Sollecito's flat with both Ms Knox's and Ms Kercher's DNA on it to Ms Kercher's wounds.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3629353.ece
