Guede to appeal Kercher verdict

Ivory coast national 'disappointed' by 30- year murder term

(ANSA) - Perugia, October 29 - Ivory coast national Rudy Guede said Wednesday he would fight on to prove his innocence after a judge sentenced him to 30 years for sexually assaulting and murdering British university student Meredith Kercher in Perugia last November. ''I'm disappointed, very disappointed, especially for the sexual violence that I was accused of and which I did not commit,'' he told defence lawyers visiting him in prison a day after the ruling. ''But I'm not defeated, we can still work (to clear my name)'', he said. One of the 21-year-old's lawyers, Nicodemo Gentile, described Guede as a ''fighter''. ''The entire world was shouting for him to be found guilty, and they got what they wanted. But we are convinced that all the elements are there to change the verdict in appeal. There are lots of holes (in the evidence) in which to intervene,'' Gentile said. Kercher's family, in court to hear the ruling on Tuesday, said they were satisfied with Guede's sentence. ''This is a really important step towards justice for Meredith,'' Kercher's sister Stephanie told reporters. Judge Paolo Micheli also ruled that Guede must pay seven million euros to the family in compensation for Kercher's death. Public prosecutors had asked for a life sentence for Guede, who opted for a fast-track trial without a jury to avoid being tried alongside two other suspects in the case. Guede's lawyers feared the defence teams of Kercher's American flatmate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, had made a pact to blame Guede for the murder. Judge Micheli on Tuesday ruled there was sufficient evidence to proceed to a full trial for both Knox, 21, and Sollecito, 24, and set the first hearing for December 4. The pair will find out later on Wednesday if they can be placed under house arrest for the trial or if they must remain in jail, where they have been since their arrest on November 6 last year. Kercher, 21, was found in her bedroom semi-naked and with her throat slashed on November 2 in the house she shared with Knox and two other Italian women. Public prosecutor Giuliano Mignini told the court last week that Kercher was killed when all three suspects tried to force her to participate in ''a perverse group sex game''. In Mignini's reconstruction of events, Sollecito and Guede held Kercher's arms while Knox slashed her throat with a kitchen knife. The public prosecutor said Guede had also tried to rape Kercher. But Guede's lawyers claim that the crime was carried out by Knox and Sollecito alone. Guede has always admitted to being in the house on the night of the murder but says he was in the bathroom when Kercher was murdered. Lawyers for Knox and Sollecito claim their clients were not in the house and that the crime was committed by a single attacker. Photo: Rudy Guede.