By Calvin Palmer
A witness testified today that he saw Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito close to her house on the night British student Meredith Kercher was killed.
Homeless Antonio Curatolo, 52, said a couple he had seen “chatting animatedly” on a basketball court were Meredith’s alleged murderers, American student Knox and Italian Sollecito.
He told the court court in Perugia, central Italy, that he saw them “around five times” between 9.30 p.m. and midnight on the night Meredith died.
Knox and Sollecito have always claimed they were at home when she was killed in November 2007 and did not leave until the following morning.
When asked if he recognised the two people he had seen in court, Curatolo said he could. He pointed out Knox and Sollecito who were sitting just a few yards away from him.
According to a post-mortem report, police and prosecutors believe that Meredith was murdered between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. on 1st November 2007. She was found semi-naked and with her throat cut in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in Perugia.
Prosecutors allege that Kercher was killed during what began as a sex game, with Sollecito holding her by the shoulders from behind while Knox touched her with the point of a knife. They say a third man, Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.
Knox and Sollecito are accused of murder and sexual assault. They deny the charges.
Guede, 21, was convicted of murder in a separate trial in October and sentenced to 30 years in prison.
A second witness testified he saw Knox, Sollecito, Guede and Kercher walk out of the apartment that the Briton was sharing with Knox on Oct. 30, 2007, two days before the killing.
Fabio Gioffredi said he was “99 percent sure” he saw Guede.
“They were all dressed in dark clothes, except for Amanda, who was wearing a red coat, with big buttons, 60s-style,” Gioffredi said.
After Gioffredi’s testimony, Sollecito stood up and made a spontaneous declaration, as he is allowed to under Italian law, challenging the witness.
Sollecito said:”This witness could not have seen me with Rudy Guede because as I have already said, I do not know Rudy Guede and I have never met him before in my life.
“Also the day he claims to have seen us altogether is impossible as I was somewhere else and that will be proved as the trial continues.”
Meredith, a Leeds University student who was from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Italy as part of a year-long exchange program with her European Studies degree. She had only been in Perugia for two months when she was killed.
[Based on reports by The Daily Telegraph and Associated Press.]
