Amanda Knox Branded 'She-Devil' In Court

Amanda Knox is a sex-loving she-devil who knowingly lied to police, a lawyer has told the court hearing her appeal.

Carlo Pacelli, who represents a man Knox initially accused of murder, said the American was "diabolical, satanic" and a "deceptive witch".

In an angry court statement, he contrasted the "charming" and "angel-faced" 24-year-old the world sees now with Knox four years ago.

Mr Pacelli, the lawyer for Patrick Lumumba, made his comments as Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaelle Sollecito's appeal nears its end.

Knox is serving 26 years and Sollecito 25 years for the murder of British student Meredith Kercher, 21, in Perugia, Italy, in 2007.

They have appealed the verdicts based on findings in an independent court report that dismissed the original police forensic investigation.

But prosecutors insist they are guilty and in their closing statements at the weekend asked for the pair's sentences to be increased to life.

After her arrest, Knox blamed Meredith's murder on Mr Lumumba, a bar owner, following a night of police questioning.

She told officers she "remembered Patrick killing Meredith" and that she had stayed in the kitchen covering her "ears to drown out the screams".

Mr Lumumba was arrested in a dawn raid in front of his stunned wife and baby and kept in custody for two weeks before being released.

Under Italian law, he is entitled to sue Knox and Sollecito for slander because her false statement put him in jail.

In court on Monday, his lawyer said: "She falsely blamed Lumumba when she knew he was innocent. She put him in jail for two weeks away from his loved ones and family.

"After poor Meredith, the second victim in all this is Patrick Lumumba. Amanda destroyed him as a man, husband, father. She muddied his character.

"The woman you see before you today is charming, simple soap and water faced, intelligent, angel-faced because she has spent four years in jail.

"She is the daughter everyone wants so you need to know what she was like four years ago. She was a diabolical, satanic, demonic she-devil.

"She was muddy on the outside and dirty on the inside. She has two souls - the clean one you see her before you and the other."

He added: "She is borderline. She likes alcohol, drugs and she likes hot, wild sex."

Mr Pacelli closed his summing up by labelling Knox a "deceptive witch" as he urged the judge and jury "not to falter".

"She is guilty and needs to be convicted. The verdict on Amanda must be confirmed," he said.

The lawyer said Mr Lumumba, who is seeking damages from Knox, was still suffering "moral, financial, psychological damages" from being wrongly accused.

Knox's father Curt and stepfather Chris Mellas shook their heads as the description was translated for them.

Knox herself, wearing a black sweat shirt, looked intently at the judge and jury.

Meredith, from Coulsdon, Surrey, was in Perugia as part of her Leeds University course and had only been in Italy for two months when she was killed.

Knox, from Seattle, and Sollecito, who is from Giovinazzo near Bari, have always denied any involvement in the murder.

A third defendant, small-time drug dealer Rudy Guede, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, has also been jailed over the killing.

He was handed a 30-year sentence for murder and sexual violence following a fast-track trial in October 2008. The term was later cut to 16 years.

Prosecutors have vowed to take the case to a third and final appeal if Knox and Sollecito are cleared.