The Court of Assizes of Appeal of Perugia
IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
THE COURT OF ASSIZES OF APPEAL OF PERUGIA
Composed of the Magistrates:
Dr. Giovanni BORSINI President
Dr. Maria Rita BELARDI Reporting Judge
Mr. Gianfranco FESTUCCIA Popular Judge
Ms. Elide GRAZIANI Popular Judge
Ms. Federica FRANCHI Popular Judge
Ms. Rosalinda Cinzia ABRAMO Popular Judge
Ms. Gabriela CASTELLINI Popular Judge
Mr. Roberto MADOLINI Popular Judge
Has delivered the following
RULING
In the Council Chamber
In the case
Against
GUEDE RUDI HERMANN, born 12/26/1986 in Agou (Ivory Coast);
- presently detained in state of precautionary incarceration at the Viterbo Prison-
-PRESENT-
CHARGED
A) with the crime quoted by articles 110, 575, 576 first section n. 5, concerning the felony under section C) and article 577 first section n. 4, relating to article 61, sections 1 and 5 of the penal code, for having, together with KNOX AMANDA MARIE and SOLLECITO RAFFAELE, killed KERCHER MEREDITH, through chocking and resulting breaking of the hyoid bone and through a deep wound in the left and right forward lateral regions of the neck [caused] by a stabbing weapon referred to by charge B), and hence metahemorrhagic shock with a substantial asphyctic component incidental to the bleeding (originated from the stabbing wounds affecting the left and right forward lateral regions of the neck and from the contextual abundant aspiration of hematic material [blood]), and benefiting of the night hour and of the isolated location of the apartment rented by KERCHER and KNOX themselves, and also by two Italian girls (ROMANELLI FILOMENA and MEZZETTI LAURA), apartment located at 7 Via della Pergola, Perugia, committing the deed for futile reasons, while GUEDE, with the complicity of others, perpetrated the crime of sexual violence.
B) Omitted [should be the abusive carrying of the knife].
C) of the crime quoted by articles 110, 609-bis and ter n. 2 of the penal code, for having, in complicity with KNOX AMANDA MARIE and SOLLECITO RAFFAELE (GUEDE being the material executor, in complicity with co-defendants), forced KERCHER MEREDITH to suffer sexual acts, with manual and/or genital penetration, through violence and threats, consisting of acts of coercion having produced injuries, particularly to upper and lower limbs and in the vulvar area (bruises on the side-frontal face of the left thigh, injuries to the vestibular area in the vulvar location and bruises on the front face of third middle area [terzo medio] of the right leg), as well as of the use of the knife referenced to by charge B) –
D) Omitted [theft of cash, credit cards and cell phones].
E) Omitted [simulation of burglary].
F) Omitted [calumny against Lumumba].
All the events happened in Perugia, on the night between November 1 and 2 2007.
APPEALING
against the ruling pronounced on October 28 2008 by the GUP [Judge for the Preliminary Hearing] of the Court of Perugia, which found GUEDE RUDI HERMANN guilty of the charges A) and C), considering this last charge included in the crime of aggravated homicide, and, considering the reduction of sentence deriving from the choice of the shortened proceeding, sentenced him to 30 years of imprisonment, as well as to the payment of the costs of the proceeding and to the refunding of the cost of his support during the cautionary imprisonment he was subjected to.
He was declared perpetually diqualified from public service and from whatever office concerning tutelage and caring [curatela], as well as to legal interdiction while serving the sentence; he was sentenced
- to the refunding of the losses experienced by the civil party TATTANELLI ALDALIA, to be defined in a separated trial, as well as to the payment of [her] costs of the proceedings, defined in euro 2.800,00 for [lawyers’] fees and certified expenditures, besides general expenditures, VAT and others;
- to the refunding of the losses experienced by the civil parties KERCHER JOHN LESLIE, ARLINE KERCHER CAROL MARY, KERCHER JOHN ASHLEY, KERCHER LYLE, defined in a balanced way [via equitativa] in the sum of euro 2.000.000,00 each to KERCHER JOHN LESLIE and ARLINE KERCHER CAROL MARY, and in the sum of euro 1.500.000,00 each to KERCHER JOHN ASHLEY and KERCHER LYLE, as well as to the payment of [their] costs of the proceedings, defined on the whole in euro 30.000,00 for [lawyers’] fees, besides general expenditures, VAT and others;
- to the refunding of the losses experienced by the civil party KERCHER STEPHANIE ARLINE LARA, defined in a balanced way [via equitativa] in the sum of euro 1.500.000,00, as well as to the payment of [her] costs of the proceedings, defined on the whole in euro 18.000,00 for [lawyers’] fees, besides general expenditures, VAT and others; OMITTED.
WITH CONSTITUTION AS CIVIL PARTIES OF:
1) LYLE KERCHER, born in Greenwich (British Citizen) on 07/03/1979 – (brother), formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of his lawyer FRANCESCO MARESCA, Via dei Vecchietti,1 - FIRENZE
2) ARLINE CAROL MARY KERCHER born in Lahore (British Citizen) on 11/01/1945, living in Couldson Surrey Fairdene Road, 24 (United Kingdom) (mother), formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of her lawyer FRANCESCO MARESCA, Via dei Vecchietti,1 – FIRENZE
3) JOHN LESLIE KERCHER, born in Balham (British Citizen) on 12/11/1942, living in Croydon West Croydon Queens Road, 27 (United Kingdom) (father), formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of his lawyer FRANCESCO MARESCA, Via dei Vecchietti,1 – FIRENZE
4) JOHN ASHLEY KERCHER, born in London (British Citizen) on 10/21/1976 (brother) formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of his lawyer FRANCESCO MARESCA, Via dei Vecchietti,1 - FIRENZE
5) STEPHANIE ARLINE LARA KERCHER, born in London (British Citizen) on 07/21/1983, living in Portsmouth Southsea Telephone Road, 33 (United Kingdom), (sister), formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of her lawyer SEREMA PERNA, Via dei Vecchietti,1 – FIRENZE
6) TATTANELLI ALDALIA, born in Tuoro sul Trasimeno on 03/12/1925, living in Rome, Via Bradano, 26 formally domiciled [for matters involving the trial] at the office of her lawyer LETIZIA MAGNINI, Via Vermiglioni, 16 – PERUGIA
HISTORY OF THE CASE
With the ruling of October 28 2008, issued following the shortened proceeding, made contingent on the examination of the witnesses Ivana Tiberi, Mancini Gabriel and Kokomani Herkuran and on the acquisition of documents apt to refute the testimony given by the latter during the preliminary investigation, the Preliminary Hearing Judge at the Court of Perugia convicted GUEDE Rudi Hermann for the murder of KERCHER Meredith Susanna Cara in complicity with Amanda Marie Knox and Sollecito Raffaele ( judged separately with ordinary proceeding), with the aggravating circumstances of the night time and of the isolated location of the apartment, occupied by KERCHER herself, by Knox, by Filomena Romanelli and by Mezzetti Laura and with the additional aggravating circumstance of trivial reasons and of sexual violence against KERCHER , perpetrated in Perugia, in the night between 1 and 2 November 2007, and once having considered the crime of sexual assault absorbed [included] in that of murder, making allowance for the chosen proceeding, sentenced him to 30 years of imprisonment with perpetual disqualification from public office and from any office pertaining to tutelage and caring and to legal interdiction while serving the sentence; condemned him also to pay damages in favor of the civil parties, to be defined separately, in favor of the landlady, Tattanelli Aldalia and defined in € 2,000,000.00 each in favor of the victim's parents, in € 1,500,000.00 each in favor of her siblings, condemning him finally to pay the legal fees of those civil parties; acquitted him then according to the 2nd paragraph of Art. 530 Criminal Procedure Code for the crime of complicity in the theft of the sum of 300.00 Euros, two credit cards and two mobile phones to the detriment of KERCHER, for not having committed the crime, not having come to light univocal elements capable of proving his participation in the misappropriation of those objects.
THE FACT
At 12.35 on November 2 , 2007, personnel of the Postal Police of Perugia reached via della Pergola 7 , in order to track one named Filomena Romanelli, following the discovery, at different times, by Lana Elisabetta and her family, of two mobile phones, in the garden in front of their home, one of which having the Vodafone Sim Card handler relative to number 348/4673711 assigned to said Romanelli .
On the location, outside the building, said personnel found two youngsters, identified in the U.S. citizen Amanda Marie Knox, domiciled in that very house at Via della Pergola and in her boyfriend, Sollecito Raffaele, who reported to be waiting for the arrival of the Carabinieri, called by them through the "112" [emergency number], having they noticed, when coming home in the morning, the presence of a broken glass, in correspondence of the room occupied by Romanelli and suspecting that a theft had been perpetrated (later it will be ascertained that the “112” call was made after the arrival of the Postal Police [this was demonstrated to be false already during the first instance trial of Knox and Sollecito]).
The two youngsters told Inspector Battistelli they had noticed blood stains in some rooms of the apartment, particularly in one of the two bathrooms and that the door of the room occupied by KERCHER appeared to be locked, having Sollecito vainly tried to open it after having verified that the same [KERCHER] was not answering to Knox's phone calls.
In the meanwhile there arrived Zaroli Marco, the boyfriend of Romanelli, tenant of the building and with whom he had spent the night in another place, together with his friend Luca Altieri, they had come at the urging of Romanelli herself, who was traveling around with a friend and who had been warned by telephone by Knox to the presence of a broken glass in her room; shortly later Romanelli herself arrived, who verified that nothing had been removed, stated that the Sim Card assigned to her had been by herself donated to her friend and co-tenant Meredith, further stating that both cell phones, also the one with the English Sim Card, belonged to the latter and pointing out the oddity that they were not found in her possession, since, due to her frequent contacts with her mother, she [Meredith Kercher] never separated herself from them; [Romanelli] noticed, also, the strangeness of the locked door, so it was decided to break through that door, an operation materially carried out by Altieri.
Once opened the door, those present were faced with a creepy view, with the room in complete disorder and blood stains both on the floor and on the wall and it was noted, on the floor, one foot sticking out from the blanket.
At that point, the Postal Police officers, to avoid any possible tampering with evidence, prevented those present from accessing the room.
From initial investigations, it appeared that the deceased girl, who had a stab wound on the neck, was to be identified precisely with the British student Meredith Kercher, in Italy since the month of September, in the context of the Erasmus project and enrolled in the University for Foreigners of Perugia.
The first inspections were carried out by the Scientific Police, which established , in particular, the absence of break-ins of the entrance door of the apartment and of the gate, the presence of shoeprints and of small bloody traces and footprints in the room used as kitchen and living room, the presence of faeces and toilet paper in the toilet of the bathroom adjacent to the room of Mezzetti, it not having been flushed, the state of disorder (emptied drawers, objects scattered on the bed and on the floor ) in the room occupied by Romanelli, the presence, in the same [room], of a broken glass in correspondence of the left pane, with glass shards scattered in the room and on the internal and external window sills, of a rock and of a fragment of rock, other shoeprints and traces of blood were found in the hallway, while in the other bathroom, used by KERCHER and Knox, was noticed the presence of several blood spots on the sink, on the faucet, on the floor, on the bidet, on the lid of the toilet, on the front door; many bloody traces were, of course, found in the KERCHER’s room and, more specifically, on the inside handle of the window, on the inner and outer panel of the open left door of a wardrobe, on a towel, abundantly soiled, placed on the bed and also on the floor, where shoe sole traces were also noticed, with a concentric circular pattern, more bloody traces on a bra, particularly on the right brace, which was found on the floor and on other objects placed on the ground, while the body of the girl was on its back, covered by a duvet, which left uncovered the left foot and the upper half of the face; the same [girl] was wearing only a cotton shirt rolled up to the thoracic region (later found to be a double shirt), smeared with blood, two more towels were found on the floor, one of them completely drenched in blood, the top sheet of the bed, a blood smeared light blue shirt with zipper and blue collar and cuffs, and, under the pillow on which rested the girl’s gluteal region, a strip of the bra with its clasps .
From the first technical assessments, carried out by the consultant of the PM, Dr. Luca Lalli, it was ascertained that KERCHER’s death had been caused by a metahemorrhagie originated by a vascular injury in the neck produced with a stabbing weapon.