Knox ‘scared’ but hopes appeal will find her innocent

AMANDA Knox said from her jail cell yesterday she is scared but hopeful eight days after an Italian court sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the murder of her British roommate.

“I am scared because I don’t know what is going on,” the 22-year-old American student said during a 10-minute visit by two Italian lawmakers, prison officials and a pair of reporters in Capanne prison on the outskirts of Perugia.

Knox has been in jail for two years since she was arrested a few days after the slaying of Meredith Kercher in the house the two students shared in this Umbrian university town.

“I am waiting and always hoping,” Knox said, switching from English into Italian for the delegation. “I don’t understand many things, but I have to accept them, things that for me don’t always seem very fair.”

Sitting on her bed in the 9 square metre cell, Knox said “I was feeling horrendous” after the December 5 verdict which found her guilty of murder and sexual assault.

“The guards helped me out. They held me all night,” she said.

Kercher’s body was found in a pool of blood with her throat slit on November 2, 2007, in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox while the two were studying in the medieval town of Perugia in central Italy. Prosecutors said the Leeds University student was murdered the previous night.

Knox’s Italian ex-boy- friend Raffaele Sollecito was convicted of the same charges as her and given a 25-year-sentence. After the verdict, he was transferred to another prison. Both insist they are innocent.

Knox’s lawyers have expressed hope she will be acquitted in an appeals trial.

Knox looked relieved when one of her visitors, Italian parliamentary deputy Rocco Girlanda, recounted the unrelated case of a young man also convicted of murder at the first trial level but exonerated in the appeals trial.

The visitors, who included a reporter from the Italian news agency ANSA, were not allowed to ask Knox about the trial itself.

Instead Knox spoke about her affection for her family and her determination to continue her university studies. “I believe in my family. They are telling me to stay calm,” Knox said.

The visit was arranged by Fondazione Italia USA, which fosters close relations between the two countries, to heal any rift over accusations that Italy’s justice system is unfair.

Knox is sharing a cell with a woman from New Orleans who is serving a four-year sentence for a drug offence.