Updated 04:41 PM EDT, Thu, Mar 28, 2024

Amanda Knox Verdict: Knox Says She 'Feels Guilty' About Accusing Bar Owner Patrick Lumumba of Murdering Kercher

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Amanda Knox said she regrets falsely accusing bar owner Patrick Lumumba of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007, saying, "I know why he hates me."

According to The Daily Mail, Lumumba was held in police custody for two weeks after Knox told police she had "covered her ears as he killed" Kercher in the bedroom of the house they shared together in Perugia, Italy. Kercher, 21, was found half-naked, sexually assaulted and with her throat cut. 

After the accusation, Lumumba was dragged from his home in front of his family and was taken to jail. He was released when a university professor gave him with a solid alibi. 

Knox, 26, who was re-convicted last month along with her ex-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, for killing Meredith, admitted that she feels guilty about accusing Lumumba. She says his false accusation was a result of pressure from police. 

In an interview with the Guardian, she said she "really struggled with what happened with Patrick," and when asked if she could understand why he hated her, she said: "Yes, Patrick was greatly hurt by what happened and never got answers from me. Granted, I was in a position where I couldn't give answers. But if you read what I said after my interrogations, I said I could not testify against him, and yet his lawyer continues to say I was going to let him languish in prison."

Knox said the false accusation was a result of threats from the police and the strain caused by police interrogations. 

She said she began crying when she made the false accusation. "When I named Patrick, I just started weeping. I thought, "Oh my God", it must be true what they're (the police) saying. I must have witnessed my friend's murder somehow and now I'm traumatised enough to not even remember it."

Knox was subsequently convicted of slandering Lumumba and was ordered to pay him 22,000 euros in 2011. Lumumba was also given 8,000 euros in damages by the Italian state, but rejected his right to pursue a claim through the European Court of Human Rights. 

Knox also said she is determined to convince the Kercher family of her innocence, although she said, it was a "really big rock to overturn." Knox resides in her native home of Seattle, where she is studying creative writing.

She said she feels trapped by her re-conviction, and that she is not happy with the public viewing her as a criminal. 

She continues to maintain that police do not have any evidence that committed the murder, and says she is trying to stay positive. 

Knox and Sollecito was initially both convicted in 2009, and Knox was sentence to 26 years and Sollecito to 25 years, but the convictions were overturned in 2011. Last year, Italy's Supreme Court ordered a retrial of the appeal, leading to her re-conviction last month. 

Knox faces extradition to Italy if she leaves the United States.

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