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 — while in the bathroom listening to his iPod.
In November 2007, British student Meredith Kercher was murdered in Italy, during a study abroad program in hill town Perugia.
In October 2008, Rudy Guede was sentenced to 30 years for his part in the killing, for which Kercher’s roommate, American student Amanda “Foxy Knoxy” Knox and her boyfriend, Italian IT grad, Raffaele Sollecito, are now on trial.
During what has been hypothesized was some sort of late-night Halloween sex game where the 21-year-old Kercher was an unwilling participant, Guede maintains he was out of commission during the murder while in the bathroom of the young women’s apartment.
Guede, an Ivory Coast native, 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, plugged into an iCarta, a toilet paper holder roll that doubles as an iPod dock.
“Then, I heard Meredith’s and Amanda’s voices, arguing about some money missing,” the AP reported he testified at the trial. “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’s lawyers tried to head off what they thought might be viewed as a sort of Twinkie defense for the digital age in a statement to Italian media (below translation mine):
“It is nothing more than a confirmation of how some abnormal behaviors are apparently normal among young people today,” said laywers Valter Biscotti and Nicodemo Gentile. “Just as Facebook is their virtual world, they now listen to music everywhere, even in the bathroom. The marketing of such products implies a certain routine use.”
Guede said he tried to rescue Kercher, who was 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.
Via AP
