Police hit me, says Kercher accused
The woman accused of killing UK student Meredith Kercher has told her Italian trial she was beaten by police who wanted her to name a suspect.
American Amanda Knox claimed she wrongly implicated an innocent man under police pressure, though police deny any misconduct.
Knox, 21, claims she was at the home of her ex-boyfriend, Italian Raffaele Sollecito, 24, who also denies murdering 21-year-old Ms Kercher, who was stabbed to death in November 2007.
The Leeds University student's body was discovered in the bedroom of the house she shared with Knox in the Umbrian university city of Perugia the following day.
Giving evidence for the first time, Knox repeated her accusation that the police had hit her twice on the back of her head during her interrogation. She told the court she had a good relationship with Miss Kercher.
Together the two of them discussed literature, dined in restaurants and went to Perugia's annual chocolate festival, she said.
Miss Kercher also accompanied her to the classical music concert where she first met Sollecito, she added.
She smiled when she said the "scratch" she had on her neck at the police station was a "hickey" (love bite) from Sollecito.
The mark on her neck had been remarked upon in a former hearing.
She said: "I never thought I would be a suspect. I never thought of hiring a lawyer. I couldn't understand why I was arrested."
