Meredith Kercher murder suspect Rudy Hermann Guede did not rape or kill the Leeds University student, his lawyer said today on his way into court.
Nicodemo Gentile also said his client did not know the other suspects, American Amanda Knox (21), and Italian Raffaele Sollecito (24).
The versions of events described by their lawyers and the prosecutor were fantasies, he added ahead of the closing speech for Guede’s defence in Perugia, Italy.
The 21-year-old, originally from the Ivory Coast, would not speak in court today, his lawyer told reporters.
Guede has admitted to being in the house on the night the exchange student was murdered last November but, like his fellow suspects, denies any wrongdoing.
Ms Kercher, from Coulsdon, Surrey in England was found semi-naked with her throat slit on November 2 in her room in the house she shared with Knox and others.
The three suspects have been accused of killing her in a bungled sex game.
Ms Knox’s and Mr Sollecito’s lawyers both said in court this week that they believed the murder was committed by a lone culprit.
But the lawyer representing Miss Kercher’s family, Francesco Maresca, said outside court today that he disagreed with this theory.
Mr Guede, who is being tried in a fast-track process, requested a separate trial from former lovers Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito because he feared they had a pact to frame him for the murder.
Judge Paolo Micheli will decide early next week whether to convict or acquit him.
He will decide at the same time whether Ms Knox and Mr Sollecito should stand trial.
Mr Sollecito’s lawyers argued at a pre-trial hearing yesterday that he could not have been involved in the murder because he was downloading a cartoon at home at the time.
His lawyer Giulia Bongiorno said: “Raffaele was using an interactive cartoon website between 9pm and 9.45pm that night.
“Analysis of the phone calls made from Meredith’s phone show that she must have been killed between 9pm and 10pm.
“Raffaele would not have had time to get to her house.”
She said the evidence indicated there was just one murderer, whose trail was left by a piece of broken glass they trod on and which got stuck to their shoe and made marks on the floor.
PA