Meredith was held down in a 'horrific rape'

MEREDITH KERCHER was pinned down by two people and sexually abused before she was brutally murdered, a court heard yesterday.

DENIES MURDER Amanda Knox at court yesterday DENIES MURDER: Amanda Knox at court yesterday

The 21-year-old British student was found semi-naked with her throat cut in her bedroom in November 2007. She died, say prosecutors, because she refused to take part in a drug-fuelled sex game.

Amanda Knox, 21, her American flatmate, and Knox’s former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, both deny murder and sexual-abuse charges.

Yesterday forensic scientist Dr Vincenza Liviero told a closed hearing how signs on Meredith’s body pointed to more than oneattacker. “I told the court that in my opinion there were signs of more than one person being involved and there was also evidence of sexual violence,” she said after the hearing in Perugia, Italy.

The Kercher’s family lawyer Francesco Maresca added: “The medical experts confirmed to the court the cruel signs of the wounds Meredith suffered and the fact that more than one person was involved.

“Mauro Marchionni, a gynaecologist, told the court that in his experience he had not seen such wounds before on a

person who had consented to sex.

“The court also heard that with so many bruises and wounds on her body from a knife, hands, suffocation, a lone attacker would have had to had four hands.”

The testimony supported the prosecution theory that Meredith was sexually abused by an attacker while another held her down. She was then stabbed to death.

A judge earlier ruled that testimony should be in chambers because of the graphic evidence, including pictures of Meredith’s body.

Knox smiled and shook hands with her legal team when she arrived in court. She covered her head with her hands as some of the most horrific details of the assault were revealed.

On Friday the court heard that pathologists found 23 injuries of Meredith’s body.

Pathologist Luca Lalli said the injuries were on her hands, face, neck and legs, and there was evidence of sexual activity before she died. He said there was no “biological evidence of a sexual attack” but it was likely that it had been “non-consensual sex” because so many bruises and injuries were found.

Rudy Guede, 21, also appeared in court after being summoned as a witness.

The Ivory Coast drifter, who was jailed for 30 years in October for the murder after a separate trial, refused to testify, which is his right under Italian law.

Guede has always insisted that he was at the house the night Meredith was killed and he had gone there “on a date”.

He claims he was using the bathroom at the time she was murdered, listening to his iPod.

Guede’s DNA was found on Meredith’s body while his bloodied fingerprint was discovered on a pillow in the bedroom and on a piece of toilet tissue.

Meredith, a Leeds University student from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Italy on a year-long exchange programme as part of her European Studies degree.

The trial was adjourned until April 18 when the jury and court officials will visit the crime scene.

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