Family speaks out ahead of Kercher hearing
Meredith Kercher
Legal proceedings have begun in Italy in the case of murdered British exchange student Meredith Kercher, with members of her family in attendance.
Ms Kercher, 21, from south London, was killed in the Italian city of Perugia in November while participating in an Erasmus exchange from Leeds University.
The graphic details of her murder have shocked the public in Italy and this country: the student was found by police in the flat she shared, naked and with her throat cut.
After an initial flurry of accusations between the various suspects, four people were arrested: Ms Kercher’s American flatmate, Amanda Knox; her Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito; a Congolese local bar owner, Diya Lumumba; and Rudy Hermann Guede, an Ivorian citizen who was extradited back to Italy in December after fleeing to Germany following the murder.
Mr Lumumba has since been released, but remains a suspect. The others remain in custody after being denied bail.
Ms Knox originally suggested that Ms Kercher had been killed while resisting the sexual advances of Mr Lumumba, telling the media that she heard her flatmate screaming after the bar owner had entered her room.
Further investigations by Italian police uncovered evidence that Ms Kercher may have been killed as part of a forced violent group sex ‘game’ involving Mr Sollecito and with the full knowledge of Ms Knox.
However, the investigation has been rocked in recent weeks by revelations which undermine both the suspects’ alibis and the official case against them.
In January, an Albanian man approached the authorities in Perugia claiming that Ms Knox had been in the company of her co-accused – despite the fact that Sollecito and Guede claim to never have met – when she threatened him with a knife following a car accident.
On 16 April, the police case was undermined by the release of the report from a second autopsy on Ms Kercher’s body, which suggested she had engaged in sexual intercourse, but had not been raped.
Most damaging to the standing of the police in the Kercher investigation, however, has been the steady trickle of leaks to the media of details pertaining to the case, culminating in the broadcast on local Italian television of a police videotape of the crime scene which shows Ms Kercher’s dead body.
Addressing the media ahead of the hearing to decide what charges can be brought against the suspects, Lyle Kercher, the victim’s brother, spoke of his family’s displeasure with the unfolding controversy.
He said: “We have been a bit disappointed with some of the information that has been leaked, both with the frequency and the content of the leaks; none more so than the images and the photos that were leaked a few weeks ago.
“Of course this was, in our opinion, in poor taste and unnecessary.
“All that we can hope is that we can work together to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice. Despite attempts to discredit evidence and undermine the process, we have confidence in the police and the forensic experts, our legal team and Italian justice.”
All four suspects deny murdering Ms Kercher.
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