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Knox faces boyfriend in court for first time since arrest
Nick Pisa26 Sep 2008
Murder suspects Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito came face to face in court today for the first time since the former lovers were arrested for the killing of a British student.
Knox, 21, and her boyfriend, computer studies graduate Sollecito, 24, have been in custody for 10 months since Meredith Kercher, 21, was found semi-naked with her throat cut.
Police believe that the pair, with Rudy Guede, 21, killed her in a drug -fuelled sex game that went tragically wrong, then made her death look like a bungled robbery.
Today's hearing was the first time all three have been together in court in the central Italian town of Perugia, but all eyes were on American Knox and Sollecito. Knox arrived in jeans and a white blouse, and appeared stressed and tired. She flinched when a reporter shouted: "Are you innocent, Amanda?" as she was led into court flanked by two prison officers and without handcuffs.
Italian Sollecito arrived minutes later wearing jeans and a white jacket.
Knox and Sollecito had been seeing each other for two weeks when Ms Kercher, a Leeds University student, from Coulsdon, was found dead in her bedroom at her student digs.
Sollecito sent Knox flowers for her 21st birthday in July and each has constantly asked lawyers about how the other is doing while in jail. They are not allowed to write to each other.
After the brutal killing, Knox - who calls herself Foxy Knoxy on her website - was seen buying underwear with Sollecito in a shop and promising him a night of wild sex - behaviour, just hours after the death of her flatmate, that police have called bizarre.
Before the hearing Sollecito's lawyer, Marco Brusco, said: "Rudy Guede has insisted that Raffaele was at the scene but he wasn't and he [Sollecito] really wants to look him in the eye as he tells the judge this and we will prove he is lying."
Today Guede's fast-track hearing was starting, and four witnesses were to testify. At the same time judge Paolo Micheli will continue to decide if Knox and Sollecito should face a full trial.
Guede has admitted being at the scene - his DNA was found in the house - but he insists he did not kill Meredith and that he fought Sollecito after finding the Briton dying on the floor.
The first witness to be heard will be Albanian Herukan Kokomani, who claims to have seen all three at the murder scene and to have been threatened by them.
The other witnesses are Guede's teacher Ivana Tiberi, a friend, Gabriele Mancini, with whom he exchanged text messages, and Patrizia Stefanoni, a police scientist.
While on the run, Guede told a friend, Giacomo Benedetti, in an intercepted telephone conversation, that Knox was not at the scene. He has since changed his story.
Mobile phones have been banned from the court after messages and photographs were aired on Italian television.
The hearing continues.
