AN Italian inmate professed in court Saturday that American student Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito did not kill Meredith Kercher.
Sicilian former construction worker Mario Alessi, a fellow inmate of Rudy Guede, who was also found guilty of murdering Kercher, was one of several inmates called to testify at the Perugia Court of Appeals.
Alessi is serving a life sentence for kidnapping and killing an 18-month-old child and met Guede in a prison near Rome.
The inmate went on to say that Guede's friend, whom he did not name, murdered Kercher when she refused to have sex with Guede and his friend.
According to Alessi's testimony, she asked the two to leave her house, at which point Guede went to the bathroom and then the two men forced their sexual advances on her.
Guede allegedly told Alessi that his friend pulled out a knife, cutting Kercher in the neck.
Guede denied having ever confided in Alessi and revealing any details about the homicide.
Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to jail for 26 and 25 years respectively for the murder of the 21-year-old British citizen with whom the American student lived while studying in Perugia in central Italy.
Knox, from Seattle, and her onetime Italian boyfriend, Sollecito, are appealing their murder convictions.
Kercher, an exchange student from Surrey, in southeastern England, was found partially clothed with her throat cut in the bedroom of the home she shared with Knox in November 2007.
Alessi's testimony was interrupted and the hearing briefly suspended when prosecutors reminded the court that the witness was being investigated for false testimony.
Knox and Sollecito were both present at the hearing.
Sicilian former construction worker Mario Alessi, a fellow inmate of Rudy Guede, who was also found guilty of murdering Kercher, was one of several inmates called to testify at the Perugia Court of Appeals.
Alessi is serving a life sentence for kidnapping and killing an 18-month-old child and met Guede in a prison near Rome.
The inmate went on to say that Guede's friend, whom he did not name, murdered Kercher when she refused to have sex with Guede and his friend.
According to Alessi's testimony, she asked the two to leave her house, at which point Guede went to the bathroom and then the two men forced their sexual advances on her.
Guede allegedly told Alessi that his friend pulled out a knife, cutting Kercher in the neck.
Guede denied having ever confided in Alessi and revealing any details about the homicide.
Knox and Sollecito were sentenced to jail for 26 and 25 years respectively for the murder of the 21-year-old British citizen with whom the American student lived while studying in Perugia in central Italy.
Knox, from Seattle, and her onetime Italian boyfriend, Sollecito, are appealing their murder convictions.
Kercher, an exchange student from Surrey, in southeastern England, was found partially clothed with her throat cut in the bedroom of the home she shared with Knox in November 2007.
Alessi's testimony was interrupted and the hearing briefly suspended when prosecutors reminded the court that the witness was being investigated for false testimony.
