My conscience is clear over rape claim – Ronaldo
CRISTIANO Ronaldo says he has a ‘clear conscience’ over allegations that he raped a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room nine years ago.
In his first comments since the scandal broke last week, the Portuguese football star said rape was an ‘abominable crime that goes against everything that I am’.
Ronaldo said he was so sure he will be cleared that he felt ‘tranquillity’ as he awaited the investigation by Las Vegas police. He took to Twitter after police said they were reopening an inquiry into claims by Kathryn Mayorga that Ronaldo forced himself on her in his penthouse suite after they met in a club in June 2009.
Miss Mayorga, 34, accepted £270,000 as a hush-money settlement from the footballer but has decided to speak out now after being inspired by the MeToo movement.
Her lawyers are due to brief the media about the case, but Ronaldo, 33, who plays for Juventus after lengthy stints at Manchester United and Real Madrid, got ahead of them.
He said: ‘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.
‘My clear conscious (sic) will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.’
Miss Mayorga’s lawyers have said that abuse from Ronaldo’s fans was one of the reasons why she was terrified of speaking out. In response to the footballer’s tweet yesterday, one fan posted a picture of a dog holding a duck’s head under water with its paw. On the dog were the words, ‘Rape accusations 35 years later by an ugly woman looking for attention’.
A female fan posted a video of herself topless and blowing a kiss at Ronaldo. Another user who said he was an Everton fan told Ronaldo to ‘stay strong, big man’.
Until yesterday, Ronaldo’s only comments had been in an Instagram post which branded the claims ‘fake news’.
Ronaldo is next due to play for
‘I refuse to feed media spectacle’
Juventus against Udinese on Saturday, having been suspended for Tuesday’s Champions League win over Swiss club Young Boys.
Last Thursday, Miss Mayorga’s lawyers filed a civil lawsuit in Las Vegas against Ronaldo and his legal team. It accuses the foot- baller of being part of a ‘conspiracy’ to obstruct the criminal case against him and force Miss Mayorga to take the settlement.
The complaint accuses Ronaldo and his legal team of 11 counts, including battery, coercion, fraud, abuse of a vulnerable person and racketeering.
The lawsuit also says that after Ronaldo raped Miss Mayorga, he said, ‘sorry, because I’m usually a gentleman’.
In a statement released by her lawyers, Miss Mayorga said she wanted to ‘hold Cristiano Ronaldo accountable for his actions’. She added that she wanted to encourage sex attack victims to come forward ‘no matter how famous, wealthy or powerful’ the other person appeared to be.