Lisbon: Cristiano Ronaldo denied rape allegations levelled against him Thursday, saying his conscience was clear and that he would calmly await the results of any investigation.
“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in,” the world-famous athlete wrote in a tweet.
His agents Gestifute also sent the same statement by Ronaldo in an email to this agency. “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,” he said. “My clear conscience will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.”
Lawyers for Kathryn Mayorga, who sued Ronaldo in a district court in Clark County, Nevada Thursday, said the soccer star has 20 days from the filing of the lawsuit to respond. Mayorga alleges that Ronaldo raped her in 2009 in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite.
Mayorga has left Las Vegas to escape the attention on her case, her lawyers said at a news conference Wednesday, adding the assault has caused her severe mental and emotional damage. She was not at the news conference.
“She has decided not to make herself available to the media and stay out of the public because of her emotional state,” attorney Leslie Stovall told the news conference.
Her lawyers said they are considering whether to release documents related to the case including police reports, medical records, and an out-of-court settlement that included a non-disclosure agreement about the incident.
Mayorga has also been seeking to void the $375,000 settlement she alleges she was coerced into signing to keep quiet, according to the complaint and according to Mayorga’s lawyer.
The lawsuit, which seeks more than $200,000 in damages, names as defendants Ronaldo and an unnamed team of fixers described as “personal reputation protection specialists” hired to make the situation go away.
Lawyers for Ronaldo, one of the world’s best-known sports stars, Friday threatened to sue German magazine Der Spiegel that published blatantly illegal accusations by Mayorga.
Der Spiegel’s deputy editor-in-chief, Alfred Weinzierl, stated Sunday that the magazine had worked professionally, laid out the evidence and stood by its story, which it said was allowed under Germany’s press law.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said Monday an incident report with the number listed in Mayorga’s lawsuit was filed on the night of the alleged attack, and said the case was reopened last month. They declined to say whether the athlete was the subject of an investigation.
Ronaldo left out
Meanwhile in a recent development Ronaldo was Thursday left out of the Portugal squad for the upcoming games against Poland and Scotland. According to an ESPNFC report, Portugal coach Fernando Santos once again did not include Ronaldo, the country’s World Cup captain, who has been the subject of a reopened investigation into an alleged rape case.