Meredith Kercher’s family give their reaction to the acquittal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito
The family of Meredith Kercher are due imminently to hold a press conference, giving their reaction to last night’s acquittal on appeal of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito, two of the three people convicted of murdering the 21-year-old Leeds University student in November 2007.
This is an enormously difficult time for the Kerchers. While the focus, understandably, has been on the high drama surrounding whether Knox and her former boyfriend would resume their young lives again or spend a further two decades in prison, the British family remain in deep mourning. It can only add to their anguish to see the narrative of the night their daughter died ? killed during a violent sex game by Knox and Sollecito, along with a third person, Rudy Guede ? which they have been told by prosecutors and police for the past four years, officially decreed false.
The family arrived in Italy saying they would respect the appeal court’s decision, but their anguish and disappointment is clear. Kercher’s father, John, who remained in the UK, told the Daily Mirror that the acquittal was “ludicrous”:
How can they ignore all the other evidence? I thought the judge might play it safe and uphold the conviction but reduce the sentence. But this result is crazy.
There were 47 wounds on Meredith and two knives used. One person couldn’t possibly have done that. What happens now? Does that mean the police need to look for more killers? It makes a mockery of the original trial. We are all shocked, we could understand them reducing the sentence but completely freeing them, wow.
The press conference is due to start around 10am Italian time, or 9am BST.
The prime minister, David Cameron, has also urged people to consider the feelings of the Kercher family amid the media frenzy surrounding Knox. He told ITV1’s Daybreak programme:
I haven’t followed every part of this case but what I would say is that we should be thinking of the family of Meredith Kercher because those parents … they had an explanation of what happened to their wonderful daughter and that explanation is not there any more.
Of course, there is still someone there in prison for her murder but I think everyone today should be thinking about them and how they feel.
The Kercher family message thus far has been two-fold ? firstly that they are upset by the acquittals, but more so that they are worried the huge fuss about Knox means people are forgetting their daughter and her terrible death. Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, said yesterday:
Meredith has been almost forgotten in all this. It’s very difficult to keep her memory alive in all this.
Stephanie, her brother Lyle and their mother, Arline, are due to speak in Perugia very soon.
A brief aside: BBC News is reporting that the Knox family have been seen at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, checking in for a commercial flight back to the US which is due to leave at midday local time.
The family are sitting down at the packed press conference, where they are currently being mobbed by photographers.
Along with Arline, Lyle and Stephanie Kercher, their family’s lawyer, Francesco Maresca, is also at the press conference. An introduction from an official says the family will return to the UK later today.
Lyle Kercher is speaking. he says the family “accept the decision and respect the court” but are “left wondering” who did kill Meredith along with Rudy Guede. He adds:
For us it feels like we are back to square one
The family is asked whether they want the prosecution to appeal again. Arline Kercher says the family is still considering this. Lyle Kercher says it is ultimately up to the Italian state, though he believes an appeal is being considered.
Stephanie Kercher is asked about the crucial DNA evidence. She says the family is waiting to hear more details about this, and to learn the full reasons why the acquittal happened. She adds that she hopes DNA evidence could point towards the killers:
That’s the biggest disappointment, not knowing still.
Stephanie and Lyle are asked about forgiveness and reiterate their point from yesterday ? it’s impossible to talk about this when no one has admitted the crime. This could change if there is another stage in the legal process regarding Knox and Sollecito, they add. The family is “hopeful” about the process of the Italian legal system, Stephanie adds.
Stephanie is asked again about the judicial system, responding:
We said all along we don’t want the wrong people put way for a crime they didn’t commit.
But, she adds, legal processes regarding Knox and Sollecito are still taking place.
Arline Kercher is answering a question from, I believe, my colleague John Hooper, which I couldn’t hear properly and her answer makes little sense out of context.
Lyle Kercher says the family has received backing from around the world, including the US, and that seeing the case in terms of an Italy-US-UK divide is “nonsense”. He says:
We are really grateful for the support we’ve had, not just from Italians but people around the world.
Losing her daughter is “every parents’ nightmare”, Arline Kercher says. She adds:
She was in the safest place, her bedroom.
Interestingly, during his previous answer, Lyle Kercher referred in passing to Knox and Sollecito being released on “a technicality”. It wasn’t clear whether this was what the family really thinks about the acquittals.
Stephanie Kercher says the family was disappointed by the acquittals, but then again had not celebrated when Knox and Sollecito were convicted. She says:
It’s still difficult. We still have no answers.
The family is asked if they had ever considered contacting Rudy Guede, to hear his side of things. Arline Kercher says not:
With a legal case you can’t interfere with the process. Otherwise you might take away other people’s rights.
The press conference is over and the family are led away by their lawyers.
This was a less trenchant message than that delivered last night by Kercher’s father, John (see 8.45am).
They are disappointed at the acquittals, but say this is principally because the verdict leaves the family with a host of unanswered questions about how Meredith died; it’s clear they believe that Rudy Guede, currently the only person in prison for the crime, did not act alone. But they still trust the Italian justice system and await either a fresh investigation or new action against Knox and Sollecito.
This is a family whose grief and mourning has been perpetuated by an agonisingly slow process of discovery, the apparent answers of which have now been turned upside down. Understandably, they sound more weary and confused than angry. But it’s clear that they are by no means convinced by Knox’s and Sollecito’s innocence.
The key message, perhaps, was Lyle Kercher’s resigned-sounding admission that the family was now “back to square one”. He said:
While we accept the decision that was handed down yesterday and respect the court and the Italian justice system, we do find that we are now left obviously looking at this again and thinking how a decision that was so certain two years ago has been so emphatically over turned now.
With the press conference over we’ll now end this set of live updates.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/oct/04/kercher-family-amanda-knox-live-updates
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