Richard Owen, in Rome
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Rudy Hermann Guede, the Ivory Coast immigrant suspected of sexually assaulting and killing Meredith Kercher in Perugia, went dancing at a disco after her murder until 4.30 in the morning,
Witnesses have testified to police that they saw Mr Guede at the Domus disco from 2am onwards on Friday, November 2.
Miss Kercher was assaulted and murdered on the evening of November 1 at the whitewashed hillside cottage that she shared with Amanda Knox, an American student, and two female Italian students.
Mr Guede, who has admitted that he had sex with Miss Kercher but claims he is not the "real killer", is being held in Germany awaiting extradition to Italy on suspicion of the murder.
He referred to the fact that he went dancing after Miss Kercher was killed in internet chat with friends, intercepted by police before his capture in Germany last week.
In testimony to German police and his Italian defence lawyers. Mr Guede has said that he met Miss Kercher shortly after 8.30pm at the cottage on the night of the murder for consensual sex, but that "an Italian man" he did not know followed them in and killed her while he was in the bathroom.
In his latest account to his lawyers, reported in Italian newspapers today, Mr Guede - the only one of three suspects to admit unconditionally that he was at the house on the evening of the murder - said he and Miss Kercher had "flirted", but that she had said they could not have sex because he did not have a condom. He then went to the toilet because he had eaten a "spicy kebab" which had given him stomach pains.
He said that he failed to hear an intruder come into the house because he had iPod earphones in his ears playing at full volume. He had listened to three songs while in the bathroom - lasting about 12 minutes - and only at the end of the third song had he heard Miss Kercher scream, he is reported to have told police.
Mr Guede allegedly says he emerged to find a man "with brown hair and shorter than me" holding a knife. They briefly fought, and Mr Guede suffered a cut to the palm of his right hand "as I was trying to protect myself". The assailant had uttered "racist" insults as he left, including "A black man found is a black man condemned".
Mr Guede reportedly said that his efforts to save Miss Kercher failed, but he heard her dying words, which were either the initials "AF" or the sound "af".
La Stampa said that the latter version could be an attempt to point the finger of blame at Raffaele Sollecito, Ms Knox's Italian boyfriend. Both are in prison on suspicion of involvement in her death. The paper said however that even if Mr Guede was telling the truth and had not killed Ms Kercher, it was still "very strange behaviour" to go dancing at a disco and leave her to bleed to death instead of calling the police or emergency services.
La Repubblica said police pathologists had found the "deeeply imprinted" marks of three fingers and a thumb in Miss Kercher's throat, confirming the theory that an attempt was made to strangle her before she was killed with a knife. Her jaw bone was fractured. A witness has told police that a "coloured man" running from the direction of the cottage at about 10.30pm barged so violently into her boyfriend that he nearly knocked him over.
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To Jeff, Madison, Wisconsin
I'm sorry...did you say you LOOK FORWARD to the coverage...what is this to you, some kind of sick entertainment??
Meredith (who student who attended the same high school as myself...somebody i saw around school nearly everyday) was MURDERED ...but as long as you're entertained.
Sammy, Croydon,
Jail the 3 of them for as long as it takes for one of them to break down. Lawyers only serve to delay and confuse the stories until no-one really remembers what happened in the first place. If all 3 of them have lied at some stage in the enquiries then you can bet your mortgage that 1 or all are guilty.
Chris, Dundee,
Rudy's account is so unbelievable, and with the DNA evidence against him, the only real mystery is why he isn't the only suspect. They won't tell us what the 'communications' were b/w Rudy and Amanda before and after the murder - but she must have been there to goad Rudy, to experience some vicarious sexual thrill.
Rudy G., Stuttgart, DE,
Doesn't matter how much story develops, but one thing is certain. Amanda Knox is the woman who glues all these other suspects and the victim together therefore she's the key person and most likely involved.
Well I hope that eventually somebody breaks down and confesses. This might happen, if any of them is going to get prisoned alone. In such cases loyalty between friends ends and blaming comes in.
Jani S, Turku, Finland
According to the wonderfully accurate Seattle media. Knox is all but absolved of this crime. Her boyfriend said she's not a killer and this guy said she wasn't there.
Paying attention to forensic evidence is such a Euro thing.
Jeff, Seattle, WA
Guede's story seems crazy. I can't understand how someone who witnesses a murder and is given a clue as to the identity of the killer by a dying friend, could then decide that the rational response is to go to a disco.
Catherine, Birmingham, United Kingdom
In other articles, it is said that Guede says that he arrived at the house at 8:30pm while Meredith arrived at 8:38pm. I think this is the exact time of the CCTV video they claim to show that Amanda was arriving back at the house. It's very interesting. Perhaps the person they see on the video is actually Meredith. It's dark at this time. The camera must be some distance away. Besides, wouldn't the security video see all the people who passed the same location at any time that night? If so, there should be at least two people on video, Meredith, and Guede. The only two people with proof that they were at the house that night and must have entered at some point.
In other articles, it is said that Meredith's phone logged a connection around 10:15pm. He says he was in the bathroom for at least 12 minutes before fighting with a guy and then witnessed to be running away at 10:30pm. That places Meredith's phone connection while he was in the bathroom. It actually makes some sense
Claire, San Francisco, CA
To Jason from Baltimore...
Are you for real? A truly accurate and honest account?
So you actually believe that the suspect was in the house with Amanda, had a fight with the actual killer, sustained a cut to his hand and left to go to a disco without calling the police or emergency services?
I can't believe anyone is that gullible...
Simon, Sydney, Australia
I agree with Claire and Co.
I think that Raffaele Sollecito, the classical wealthy family son and with little experience with women, was an easy prey in the claws of the drug-addict Amanda who used him at her will to have a scapegoat.
ENRICO, Miami, USA
I look forward to repeated and exhaustive coverage of this homicide on such American programs as 48 Hours Mystery, Dateline NBC, MSNBC Investigates, City Confidential, Forensic Files, and possible even Psychic Detectives.
Jeff, Madison, Wisconsin
This mans account seems truly accurate and honest.
Jason, Baltimore, MD
The security cameras caught Amanda coming in around 9pm right? So she was there, this is all getting truly bizarre. Getting the feeling some of these 20 year-olds that people say were great friends and couldn't hurt a fly are dangerously delusional and self involved, almost sociopathic and devoid of conscience, mixing fact and fiction as if life were a movie and then not feeling responsible because it was never real in the first place. Who goes out dancing after witnessing someone dying? Or maybe he thought it would later serve as proof he couldn't have done it-he must be really dense. Scenario sounds like Amanda asked Rudy to teach her roommate a lesson and once it started they realised they had to finish her off.
Claire and Co, Paris, france
Great coverage Times! What a sad story.
Ray, New York, NY