Eight years on, Italy asks: so who were Meredith Kercher’s killers?
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Version 0 of 1. The headline in Saturday’s Italian daily newspaper, La Repubblica, seemed to sum it all up: “A surprise ending to the never-ending trial, but that night remains a mystery.” When prosecutor Mario Pinelli wrapped up his case against Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito last week, he said it was the evidence of Meredith Kercher herself – her body, which had been constrained, sexually assaulted and stabbed multiple times – that proved that three people were involved in her murder. But on Friday all of the shell-shocked parties in this long-running crime story learned that guilt had not been accepted by Italy’s highest court, which issued an annulment of the case against Knox, an American citizen, and her Italian former boyfriend, Sollecito, late on Friday after 10 hours of deliberation. The decision took everyone by surprise – even Knox’s lawyer, who had passionately argued for it – because the court of cassation generally only rules on procedural issues, not the merits of the case or facts established by lower courts. The rare acquittal signalled that Italy’s highest court was itself fed up, wanting to bring a permanent end to what critics have said was a gross miscarriage of justice and a case that left Italy’s judicial system accused of being a “circus”. The judges’ legal rationale will not be known for at least 90 days, when a full summary will be issued, but it is likely that two issues guided their decision: the lack of any convincing physical evidence and inconsistent and improbable theories over motive. It has also never been clear how the pair, who had claimed to be having sex, smoking cannabis and watching the French film Amélie at the time of the murder, became accomplices of Rudy Guede, the then 21-year-old drifter who is now the only person to have been convicted of Kercher’s murder. Known as a petty criminal to local police in Perugia, his DNA was found at the crime scene and he was sentenced to 16 years in 2008 for his part in the killing. He is now eligible for day release. The persistent theory put forward by prosecutors was that Guede could not have acted alone. In the first trial against Knox and Sollecito, prosecutors described a brutal scenario: Sollecito had held down Kercher while Knox held a knife to her throat as Guede tried to rape her. But those early claims by prosecutors that Knox and Sollecito, neither with a criminal history, were involved in a drug-fuelled sex attack seemed unconvincing. Later, other prosecutors in subsequent trials said that the crime was the result of a spat between Knox and Kercher over the cleanliness of their shared flat. One of the remarkable aspects of Friday’s decision is how the supreme court – which went out of its way to say Knox and Sollecito were innocent, not merely that there was a lack of evidence to convict them – will address those earlier assumptions about how many attackers there were that night in November 2007. It was a point that was emphasised by a devastated Francesco Maresca, the attorney for the Kercher family. Speaking outside the court on Friday night, he said: “This is not so much a defeat for the prosecution as a defeat for Italy’s justice system. The judges said there is a lack of proof, and whoever acted with Guede has not been found.” Arline Kercher, Meredith’s mother, made only a brief comment after the verdicts, saying she was “very shocked” by the court’s decision. “They have been convicted twice, so it’s a bit odd that it should change now,” she said. The family had not gone to Italy for the hearing but had gathered on Friday night to wait for the result. Meredith left two older brothers and a sister. Also expressing his deep disappointment at the verdict was the Congolese bar owner falsely accused of the murder who said the decision was a triumph for being “American and rich” rather than for justice. Patrick Lumumba, 42, said the surprise ruling was motivated by political and diplomatic reasons. Days after the murder Knox told Italian police that Lumumba was the killer. He spent two weeks in jail and said his life and business in Perugia were shattered by the allegation. She was later sentenced to three years in prison for the false claim. Lumumba told the Observer: “This is not good for justice, I think it shows the power available for rich people – she’s American and rich. For a country like Italy, this is not good. I think there were diplomatic problems with the US and it makes things difficult with the US, so they let her go free. “Amanda is free because she is American, but Americans are human like everybody. I am feeling very bad [about the acquittal].” He now lives in Poland with his wife after losing his bar in Perugia and struggling to find a job. He still believes that Knox holds the answer to the case. “What Amanda did I don’t know, but I think she knows why Meredith died.” In their ruling, the judges made clear that the allegedly suspicious actions were not enough, in the absence of substantial DNA evidence, to convict the 27-year-old of murder. TWISTS AND TURNS IN A LEGAL LABYRINTH 2 November 2007 British exchange student Meredith Kercher, 21, is found dead in her student flat in Perugia, Italy. 6 November 2007 Kercher’s flatmate, Amanda Knox, 20, and her then boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, and local pub owner Patrick Lumumba are arrested. October 2008 Rudy Guede from Ivory Coast is jailed for 30 years (later reduced to 16 years) after admitting a part in the murder. Knox and Sollecito are indicted. 4 December 2009 Knox and Sollecito are convicted of murder and sexual assault and jailed. 3 October 2011 The pair are freed after a forensic evidence report finds that the DNA evidence used against them was unreliable. 26 March 2013 The acquittal is overturned, charges reinstated and a retrial is ordered. 30 January 2014 A court in Florence upholds the guilty verdicts. It finds that Kercher was killed by multiple attackers and the fatal wound was probably delivered by Knox. 27 March 2015 The Italian supreme court acquits Knox and Sollecito. |