Kathryn Mayorga, the woman who has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her in 2009, has suffered depression and post-traumatic stress ever since the alleged incident, her lawyer has said.
Ronaldo, 33, issued a public statement on Wednesday afternoon strongly denying the accusation of sexual assault.
Later, according to Sky News, Mayorga’s lawyer Leslie Mark Stovall said at a press conference: “She wants justice. It is very personal to her, it is very difficult.
“This is an individual who suffers from major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“She has a lot of problems attributable to the 2009 sexual assault and it’s been very difficult for her over the last eight or nine years.”
Stovall also said his client, who was not present at the press conference and does not wish to face the media due to her emotional state, was inspired to come forward nearly a decade after the alleged incident by the #MeToo movement.
“The MeToo movement and the women who have stood up and disclosed sexual assaults has given Kathryn a lot of courage,” he added.
(MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)
Ronaldo wrote on Wednesday: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.
I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 3, 2018
“Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.
My clear conscious will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 3, 2018
“My clear conscious [sic] will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.”
German news outlet Der Spiegel published Mayorga’s allegations last week and say they have documents supporting her case. These documents, they claim, show Ronaldo paid Mayorga $375,000 as part of an out-of-court settlement on the condition that she agree not to go public with accusations of sexual assault. Mayorga, 34, alleges that the Juventus and Portugal forward forced himself on her in a Las Vegas penthouse after the pair met in a nightclub. This, according to Mayorga, occurred on 13 June of 2009, the summer he made an £89m transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid, when Ronaldo was 24 years old.
Mayorga’s new lawyer, Stovall, told Der Spiegel they have filed a civil complaint against Ronaldo and will seek to have any non-disclosure agreement declared void, claiming his client was not sufficiently “competent” to enter into such a contract due to “psychological injury” caused by the alleged attack.
Der Spiegel also say Mayorga reported the alleged rape to Las Vegas police shortly after but did not name a suspect.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department issued a statement on Tuesday confirming they have reopened an investigation into a report of sexual assault made on 13 June 2009 that did not give a location or suspect description at the time, and that detectives are following up on information “being provided by the victim.”
A Germany-based representative for Ronaldo, Christian Schertz, issued a statement earlier this week dismissing the allegations. In said statement, he describes Der Spiegel’s claims as “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy” before outlining his client’s intention to take legal action against Der Spiegel.
“It violates the personal rights of our client Cristiano Ronaldo in an exceptionally serious way,” Schertz told Reuters.
“This is an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy.
“It would therefore already be unlawful to reproduce this reporting.
“We have been instructed to immediately assert all existing claims under press law against Spiegel, in particular compensation for moral damages in an amount corresponding to the gravity of the infringement, which is probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years.”
Elsewhere, a spokesperson for the charity Save The Children, for whom Ronaldo is an Ambassador, told the Independent: “We are disheartened by the news report we’ve seen in the last 24 hours and are working to get more information.”
Ronaldo is the all-time top-scorer for the Portugal national team and Real Madrid, from whom he transferred to Juventus this summer in a £99m move. He did not take part in Juventus’ midweek Champions League win over Young Boys due to a suspension but is eligible to play against Udinese this Saturday in Serie A and trained with his club teammates on Wednesday.
He was omitted from the Portugal squad for upcoming games against Poland and Scotland.
The post Ronaldo rape allegation: accuser ‘suffers from depression’, says lawyer, as player issues public denial appeared first on Squawka News.
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