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I find it hard to kill a fly, suspect tells Kercher trial
06.02.09
A suspect accused of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in Italy told a court today he finds “it hard to kill a fly”.
Raffaele Sollecito denied he had anything to do with the brutal killing of the 21-year-old insisting he is “not a violent person” and did not know why he was on trial.
The 24-year-old Italian is jointly charged with his former girlfriend, American Amanda Knox, for the murder of Miss Kercher.
In court in Perugia, he said: “I have nothing to do with this case. People who know me know that I find it hard to kill a fly. I'm the victim of a judicial error.”
Prosecution lawyers allege that Sollecito and Knox, 21, killed Leeds University student Miss Kercher, who was on an exchange programme in the Umbrian town of Perugia, after she refused to participate in a drug-fuelled extreme sex game.
The student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was found dead in her bedroom on 2 November 2007 in the house she shared with Knox and others. Her throat had been slit.
Sollecito said he had not been with Knox long enough for them to want to include others in their sex life.
Knox smiled and waved at her father Curt who was sitting at the back of the court. She appeared relaxed in comparison to Sollecito, who repeatedly glanced round anxiously.
Sollecito's claim that he was at home downloading a cartoon at the time of the murder was then thrown into doubt by the first witness to take the stand.
Postal police chief Filippo Batolozzi said an inspection of Sollecito's computer revealed there had been no activity on it between 9.10pm on 1 November and 5.32am the next day.
He also described how Miss Kercher's two mobile phones were found in a neighbour's garden after her death. The phones are expected to be used as evidence against Knox and Sollecito.
The second witness, Inspector Michele Battistelli, who was one of the first police officers on the scene, said: “When I arrived I remember seeing both the accused. They were whispering to each other and told me that they had come back to the house and found the front door open and the window of one of the flatmate's rooms smashed.
“I went in. The first thing that struck me was that the glass was on the clothes. I immediately thought that this had been an attempt to make it look like a break-in. I told the two accused this but they didn't answer me. I also noticed that there was a laptop on the bedroom table and a camera in the kitchen — all items that would have been taken in a break in.”
The full trial, which began last month and will be held in stages, is expected to last until at least the summer.
Knox and Sollecito have been behind bars for 15 months.
Miss Kercher's family will not be attending until they are called as witnesses, expected to be next month. A third suspect, Ivory Coast drifter Rudy Guede, 22, was jailed for 30 years in October for murder and sexual assault after opting for a separate trial.
