Enner Valencia hits out at ex-wife "deceit" over alimony row
The Everton striker released a statement giving his version of events after he fled from police in the middle of a match against Chile.
Last Friday Ecuadorian football fans watched in disbelief as Enner Valencia left the pitch during a World Cup qualifier on a medical buggy with the police in hot pursuit, before being taken to hospital. The reason the Everton striker was being pursued is a dispute over alimony payments to his ex-wife, Sinthyia Pinargote, a matter that Valencia has said is far from clear-cut. The arrest warrant against Valencia has now been revoked.
Alimony payments
The Everton forward has issued a statement to the effect that when he was granted custody of their daughter in December 2015, alimony payments for the welfare of the child came to an end as part of the court ruling. Valencia went on to say that several judicial processes are ongoing against him by Pinargote, “which are designed for her personal benefit, such as a demand for alimony payments at a fixed amount of $30,000 a month for child maintenance." The player also said that “in the last two years a sum of approximately $100,000 has been made in alimony payments, which can be verified on the judiciary’s website.” He added that whenever he is in Ecuador, Pinargote denied him visiting rights to see his daughter.
"Physical and psychological abuse"
Valencia also claimed that the monthly payments he made of $4,820 “were destined for the personal expenditure” of his ex-wife, which she had apparently admitted to during the court hearing, and that the suspension of payments had been made “after it was proven that the child was the victim of physical and psychological abuse” by Pinargote.
"Model and dancer in a gentlemen's club"
“On various occasions she abandoned the child for weeks, with no care whatsoever for her well-being, to pursue her activities as a model and dancer in a gentlemen’s club in Guayaquil, as well as offering adult services online where one her promotional images shows the child by her side, watching innocently as she poses.”
"Deceit and ruse"
Valencia said that Pinargote has managed “by deceit and ruse” to have the monthly alimony payments reactivated “even though the court ruling that grants me custody remains in force.”
$10,000 cheque
“As a result, Pinargote has organized an orchestrated show of persecution in the past few days with the sole intention of damaging my image as a responsible parent. To put an end to this persecution I have been obliged to hand over a property which covers the total amount of the supposed unpaid obligations, and a cheque for $10,000 with which my lawyer has put an end to this uncomfortable moment.”
