(Reuters) - American student Amanda Knox tearfully begged an Italian court on Monday to acquit her of murdering her British roommate during a brutal erotic game, saying she was paying for a crime she did not commit.

"I did not do the things they say I did. I did not kill, rape or steal. I was not there," she said, trembling and sobbing during her final plea to the court for freedom after nearly four years in jail.

"I want to go home. I want to go back to my life. I do not want to be punished. I do not want to be deprived of my life for something I did not do, because I am innocent," she said.

The Seattle native and her Italian boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, are fighting a 2009 verdict that found them guilty of murdering Leeds University exchange student Meredith Kercher during a drug-fueled sexual assault.

Kercher's half-naked body, with more than 40 wounds and a deep gash in the throat, was found in 2007 in the apartment she shared with the American student in this Umbrian hill town.

The panel of two professional and six lay judges retired to consider a verdict immediately after Knox's final plea. Their decision is expected after 8 p.m. (2 p.m.) on Monday.