Amanda Knox sought to patch up relations with her estranged former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, behind the scenes, at the opening of their trial for the murder of Meredith Kercher, Knox’s British roommate, it emerged Sunday.
During the seven-hour opening hearing on Friday, Knox, 21 smiled and laughed repeatedly, joking with her lawyers and interpreter. Although sitting only a few feet from the bespectacled Sollecito, 24, she barely acknowledged his glances along the row.
As far as is known the two, who have been held in separate prisons, have not spoken since they were arrested for Kercher's murder in November 2007. But during a recess on Friday, Knox approached Sollecito and broke the ice by asking: “Ciao, come stai?” [“Hi, how are you?”]. She smiled at him and said: “You look good with your hair cut short.”
Sollecito, who had grown his hair long in prison, blushed at the compliment, according to Italian reports from legal sources who witnessed the exchange.
Knox told him that she had not slept well because one of her cellmates snored loudly, but added that she felt optimistic and was “not afraid” because the trial would “end well” for them both.
Sollecito, who appeared “much more tense and uncertain”, told his former girlfriend that the trial would take “a long time”, but he too “hoped for the best”. He told Knox he was being transferred to a prison closer to the prison where she is being held to be closer to the courtroom, but said he was "not happy about it" because he would be held in isolation.
Click here for more on this story from the Sunday Times of London.
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