AMANDA Knox claims she was sexually harassed by a prison official in Italy during her four years behind bars, according to a TV program to be aired this weekend.
Knox, who has returned home to Seattle after being acquitted of murder and sexual assault, alleges the “prison administrator” ordered her into his office, alone at night, to talk about sex.
“He was fixated on the topic of sex, with whom I’d done it, how I liked it, if I would like to do it with him,” said a letter from Knox, quoted by the 48 Hours Mystery show which airs in the US on Saturday on CBS.
“When I realised that he really wanted to talk to me about sex I would try to change the subject,” she added, the program’s makers said in a description of the show ahead of broadcast.
Knox, now 24, wrote: “I realise that he was testing me to see if I reacted badly, to understand me personally. He wanted to get a reaction or some information from me. I did not get the seriousness of the situation.”
A court in Perugia on Monday freed Knox and her Italian ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito after acquitting them over the gruesome 2007 killing of British student Meredith Kercher, allegedly after a violent sex game.
Knox, who was dubbed “Foxy Knoxy” by some tabloid newspapers, hopes to return to her studies after settling back at home, although experts say she could make a fortune by selling her story as a book, or in TV or film rights.
It was not clear when the letter cited by the TV show was written, or to which prison official it might refer.
Meanwhile the courtship of Amanda Knox’s family by American television networks eager to win an exclusive interview with her extended to providing temporary accommodations for two of her younger sisters while they were in Italy during the trial.
Knox’s father, Curt Knox, said on Friday that an ABC producer let his daughters Ashley, 16, and Delaney, 13, stay in her room while court was in session. He said a CBS producer did, too, and an NBC producer offered to.
Networks are competing for an interview with her, even before it’s clear if she’ll even tell her story in that venue.
here has been increased attention lately on how networks get these interviews, with ABC declaring this summer it would no longer pay interview subjects to license photos or videos, seen as a dodge of the common journalistic practice of not paying people to tell their stories.
Curt Knox said that although ABC producer Nikki Battiste permitted his children to use her room, she was doing her job and did not babysit the teenagers. He said Battiste wasn’t in the room with them.
ABC News spokeswoman Jeffrey Schneider said the network didn’t have a problem with Battiste’s actions.
Knox said that CBS producer Sabina Castelfranco also permitted the children to use her room. But CBS spokeswoman Sonya McNair denied this, saying Castelfranco turned down the request when asked and checked out of the small hotel. McNair said it was unclear whether the room was made available to the children after Castelfranco checked out.
Knox said NBC producer Stephanie Siegel offered her room but it wasn’t used. NBC spokeswoman Lauren Kapp denied that such an offer was made.
Battiste and Siegel also accompanied Knox’s wife and the two girls on a shopping trip near the Italian courtroom but didn’t buy anything for the family, he said.
It’s unclear whether any efforts by networks to ingratiate themselves with Knox will make any difference.
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