- Title: ITALY: Amanda Knox is not a diabolical creature says prison priest
- Date: 4th October 2011
- Summary: PERUGIA, ITALY (OCTOBER 3, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR PRISON POLICE IN TOWER PRISON CHAPLAIN DON SAULO SCARABATTOLI LEAVING PRISON (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) DON SAULO SCARABATTOLI SAYING: "Apart from Amanda there are other people I know and I believe in their innocence even if the judicial system does not confirm my thoughts." DON SAULO GESTICULATING (SOUNDBITE) (Italian
- Embargoed: 19th October 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy, Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: People
- Reuters ID: LVABSRM6N9SFQD2R2XPM8BCZSW4C
- Story Text: American student Amanda Knox is sitting out anxious hours in a Perugia prison as a judicial panel meets to decide on a verdict in her murder appeals hearing.
A priest at the prison that has been home to former American student Amanda Knox in recent years on Monday (October 3) protested her innocence.
"Apart from Amanda there are other people I know and I believe in their innocence even if the judicial system does not confirm my thoughts," said prison chaplain Don Saulo Scarabattoli.
Knox was sitting out anxious hours in the Perugia prison as a judicial panel met to decide on a verdict in her appeals hearing.
Capanne prison is 4 kilometres away from the courtroom where she will be taken to hear the verdict some time later on Monday evening.
Her emotional plea to a packed court in the morning will have further convinced many that she is innocent and should be let out of jail.
The chaplain said Amanda often plays the guitar for the prison choir during mass and she is far from the "she-devil" character that the prosecutors have painted.
"She is certainly not this diabolical creature - this is certainly not the case" Don Saulo said.
"Even if you were pretending you would never be able to pretend for four years," he added.
The Seattle native and her Italian boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, are fighting a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of stabbing the Leeds University exchange student Meredith Kercher to death during a drug-fuelled sexual assault.
Expectations are high among many in the United States that 24-year-old Knox will walk free from the Italian prison she has been held in for nearly four years after a forensics review cast doubt on DNA evidence used to convict her. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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