The Mammoth Book of New Csi by Nigel Cawthorne Page B

very doubtful of the verity of my statements because they were made under the pressures of stress, shock and extreme exhaustion. Not only was I told I would be arrested and put in jail for thirty years, but I was also hit in the head when I didn’t remember a fact correctly. I understand that the police are under a lot of stress, so I understand the treatment I received.”
    Sollecito had lied, she said. She was with him on the night of the murder.
    “On Thursday, 1 November, I saw Meredith the last time at my house when she left around three or four in the afternoon. Raffaele was with me at the time. We, Raffaele and I, stayed at my house for a little while longer and around five in the evening we left to watch the movie
Amélie
at his house. After the movie I received a message from Patrik [
sic
], for whom I work at the pub ‘Le Chic’. He told me in this message that it wasn’t necessary for me to come into work for the evening because there was no one at my work . . . I told Raffaele that I didn’t have to work and that I could remain at home for the evening. After that I believe we relaxed in his room together, perhaps I checked my email. Perhaps I read or studied or perhaps I made love to Raffaele. In fact, I think I did make love with him.
    “However, I admit that this period of time is rather strange because I am not quite sure. I smoked marijuana with him and I might even have fallen asleep. These things I am not sure about and I know they are important to the case and to help myself, but in reality, I don’t think I did much. One thing I do remember is that I took a shower with Raffaele and this might explain how we passed the time. In truth, I do not remember exactly what day it was, but I do remember that we had a shower and we washed ourselves for a long time. He cleaned my ears, he dried and combed my hair.
    “One of the things I am sure that definitely happened the night on which Meredith was murdered was that Raffaele and I ate fairly late, I think around eleven in the evening, although I can’t be sure because I didn’t look at the clock. After dinner I noticed there was blood on Raffaele’s hand, but I was under the impression that it was blood from the fish. After we ate Raffaele washed the dishes but the pipes under his sink broke and water flooded the floor. But because he didn’t have a mop I said we could clean it up tomorrow because we (Meredith, Laura, Filomena and I) have a mop at home. I remember it was quite late because we were both very tired (though I can’t say the time).
    “The next thing I remember was waking up the morning of Friday, 2 November around 10 a.m. and I took a plastic bag to take back my dirty cloths [
sic
] to go back to my house. It was then that I arrived home alone that I found the door to my house was wide open and this all began . . .”
    There was no lawyer present during Knox’s interrogation and no audio tape was produced. In court, the defence managed to get reports of her verbal confession thrown out as evidence. So her memorandum stands as her account of the events. One lawyer compared Knox to the film’s faux-naive heroine of the film
Amélie
, played by Audrey Tautou – had fish for dinner, smoked cannabis and made love.
    Later, another piece of Knox’s writing came to the attention of the prosecution. It was a short story, entitled “Baby Brother”, that she had written for her creative writing class at the University of Washington in Seattle. It told of one young woman who had drugged and raped another young woman. One passage read: “She fell on the floor, she felt the blood on her mouth and swallowed it. She couldn’t move her jaw and felt as if someone was moving a razor on the left side of her face.” This could, perhaps, be dismissed as the product of an overactive imagination.
    Patrick Lumumba was held for two weeks before being released due to lack of evidence. Witnesses testified that he was working at Le Chic on the night of the