Amanda Knox was termed as a 'she-devil' by an Italian lawyer during her appeals trial in Italian court

Amanda Knox

Amanda Knox, 24, the American student convicted in Italy of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher, is called a "she-devil" who got her kicks playing wicked sex games, by a lawyer on Monday September 26. The former University of Washington student, who is appealing her conviction, was slammed by the lawyer for a bar owner she had falsely accused of knifing her 21 year-old roommate, Reuters reported.

"Amanda is one thing and another - that is, both Saint Maria Goretti and a satanic, diabolic she-devil given to borderline behavior," Carlo Pacelli told the court. Saint Maria Goretti is the patron saint of youth, young women, purity and rape victims. Knox and her Italian ex-flame, Raffaele Sollecito, are appealing their 2009 convictions for the murder of Kercher - a crime prosecutors have characterized as a sex game gone terribly wrong.

When Knox was interrogated by Italian police, she pointed the finger at bar owner Patrick Lumumba, but she later recanted, saying police pressured her into making the false claim.

Lumumba successfully sued for slander. His lawyer told the court Knox ruined his client's life. The lawyer urged the court to see her not as the subdued convict she is now but the person she was at the time of the killing - a deceitful hellion who cared only about sex, drugs and alcohol, Reuters reported.

"We're not talking about the girl you're seeing today, who has been through four straight years of prison," he said. "Amanda Knox loved strong emotions and dangerous games. If she had no reason to lie, why did she lie?" Knox has said she was confused and scared after police collared her. She was sentenced to 26 years in prison; Sollecito got hit with a 25-year hitch. Prosecutors are now seeking to put the one-time lovebirds in prison for life if their convictions are upheld. A decision is expected early next month.

Madison Paxton, a college friend of Knox's who moved to Italy to be close to her friend, said Knox is very anxious over her undecided legal fate and can't sleep or eat. "In these days coming towards the end, finding very peaceful moments is hard for her," Paxton told The Associated Press. "Her sleep is very disturbed, her eating is very disturbed." A third man, drifter Rudy Hermann Guede, was also convicted in Kercher's murder. His sentence of 16 years was upheld by Italy's highest court.

The murder of Meredith Kercher occurred in Perugia, Italy, on 1 November 2007. Kercher, aged 21 at the time of her death, was a British university exchange student from Coulsdon, South London. She shared an upstairs flat with three other young women. She was sexually assaulted and stabbed, and all her valuable properties were stolen. Sollecito, an Italian student, Rudy Guede, a resident of Perugia and another roommate of the victim were also convicted of sexually assaulting and murdering Kercher.

Meredith Kercher, Rudy Guede, Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito