Man convicted of killing UK student in Italy: Victim argued with American just before murder

Appeal opens in case of UK student slain in Italy

PERUGIA, Italy — A man appealing his conviction for murdering a British student in Italy testified Wednesday that he heard the victim arguing with an American defendant in the case minutes before she was slain.

Rudy Hermann Guede, of Ivory Coast, made the statement at the opening of his appeal at a court in Perugia, saying he had tried to save Meredith Kercher after he heard a loud scream coming from her bedroom.

Guede was convicted last year during a fast-track trial and sentenced to 30 years in prison for killing the 21-year-old exchange student from Leeds, England.

Guede’s appeals process began even as the initial trial implicating American student Amanda Knox, of Seattle, and Knox’s ex-boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, continued. Knox and Sollecito, accused of murder and sexual violence, deny wrongdoing and a verdict in their trial is expected next month.

Guede told the court Wednesday he went to the house where Kercher was killed Nov. 1, 2007, together with Kercher, but he then fell ill and went to the bathroom along with his iPod.

“Then, I heard Meredith’s and Amanda’s voices, arguing about some money missing,” he said. “I was listening to music and at one point a heard a very loud scream.”

Guede said he rushed into Kercher’s bedroom where he saw an unidentified man who tried to attack him. Backing down into the hallway, Guede said he heard the man say “‘Let’s go, there’s a black man in the house.’”

Guede said he heard footsteps leaving the house and looked out of the window where he saw a silhouette that he later identified as Knox’s.

Guede then said he tried to rescue an agonizing Kercher, lying in a pool of blood after her throat was slit, took her in his arms and tried to mop up the blood with towels, but then panicked and left the house.

“Seeing Meredith in these terms was agonizing,” he said. “She tried to tell me something, but I couldn’t understand her. I held her hand, I asked her what had happened. … In that moment, I entered into a state of shock” and fled.

“I want to let the Kercher family know that I did not kill or rape their little daughter,” he said. “I am not the one who took her life away from them.”

He added: “I don’t know if I could have saved her. That’s the only thing I can apologize for.”

Guede’s appeals trial is separate from that of Knox and Sollecito, and his testimony cannot be included in the proceedings against them, lawyers said. Guede took the stand during Knox and Sollecito’s trial but declined to answer prosecutors’ questions or offer any spontaneous testimony.

Prosecutors say Kercher was killed during what began as a sex game.

According to the prosecutors, Sollecito held Kercher by the shoulders while Knox touched her with a knife. They say Guede tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat.

Guede was arrested in Germany shortly after the killing on an international arrest warrant and was later extradited to Italy.

Authorities began looking for Guede after his fingerprint was found in bloodstains on Kercher’s pillow, and other DNA traces were recovered on toilet paper and on the victim’s body.

Defense lawyers for the other two defendants in the case have indicated they believe Guede was the sole attacker.

The 22-year-old Knox maintains she spent the night of the murder at Sollecito’s house elsewhere in Perugia. Her 25-year-old Italian ex-boyfriend Sollecito has said he was home working at his computer that night. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it.