A judge conducting preliminary investigations in Viterbo issued a restraining order against Rudy Guede, the 36-year-old Ivorian national convicted of murdering British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Perugia in 2007.
The order stems from allegations of abuse against his former girlfriend, aged 20. Investigating crimes of personal injury, ill-treatment, and violence, authorities are probing the matter.
Prosecutors had sought stricter measures, including house arrest, for Guede, who was released from jail in November 2021 after serving 13 years of a 16-year term for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher. However, the judge opted for a ban on approaching within 500 meters of the victim and the use of an electronic bracelet as sufficient measures.
Guede is the sole individual definitively convicted of killing Kercher in Perugia. Notably, two other former suspects, Amanda Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, were acquitted by the Italian supreme court, overturning their earlier conviction.
Maintaining his innocence, Guede unsuccessfully sought a case review following Knox and Sollecito’s acquittal. His DNA was discovered inside Kercher and throughout the crime scene. The initial conviction of Knox and Sollecito relied on DNA evidence later deemed unreliable, leading to their final acquittal.
Recounting the night of the murder, Guede claimed to have gone into a “state of shock” after discovering Kercher’s lifeless body. He subsequently fled the country and was apprehended in Germany a few days later.
