Cristiano Ronaldo: Alleged rape victim left with suicidal thoughts, court papers reveal
Court documents say Kathryn Mayorga, who says Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas in 2009, was left traumatised and contemplating suicide.
It has been a tumultuous couple of days off the field for Cristiano Ronaldo, in the wake of renewed focus on allegations dating back to just under ten years ago. On Friday, Der Spiegel published an interview with Kathryn Mayorga, the woman who says the 33-year-old raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Ronaldo's lawyers immediately responded with a statement in which they promised legal action against the German magazine, which first reported the claims in 2017, calling its article "probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years".
On Sunday, several UK media outlets followed Der Spiegel's interview by revealing court documents that shed further light on the alleged incident, in which Mayorga, now 34, who at the time was an aspiring model, says that the Portuguese raped her at the Palms Casino Resort Hotel on 13 June 2009.
Alleged to have said: "Sorry, I'm usually a gentleman"
According to the documents submitted to the Clark County District Court in Nevada, after the pair met at a night club, Ronaldo invited Mayorga and a friend back to his penthouse suite. Once there, say the court papers, he urged her into his hot tub, but she refused because she did not want to spoil her dress.
He is then alleged to have offered her clothes to change into and pointed her towards the bathroom. As she was changing, he purportedly came in and asked her to carry out a sexual act. She "refused and stated she wanted to leave the hotel suite," say the court documents.
"Upon leaving the bathroom, Ronaldo pulled the plaintiff into a bedroom and on to a bed and attempted to engage in sexual intercourse," the documents add. "Plaintiff refused... and covered herself in an attempt to prevent sexual penetration."
Ronaldo then allegedly raped Mayorga, despite her screaming "no", before saying: "Sorry, I'm usually a gentleman." According to court papers, the footballer confirmed that they did have sexual intercourse, but said that it was a consensual act.
Mayorga lawyers want non-disclosure agreement quashed
After filing a police complaint the following day, Mayorga says she negotiated a 375,000-euro out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo not to go public with her claims.
However, her lawyers now want to annul that agreement, which she says she only signed because she was "terrified of retaliation" and of "being publicly humiliated by being identified as a victim of sexual assault". She says she was left traumatised, and suffering from post-traumatic stress, "major depression" and suicidal thoughts.
Ronaldo: Rape claims are "fake news"
This weekend, Ronaldo dismissed the allegations as "fake news", telling a live question-and-answer session on Instagram: "They want to promote [themselves] by [using] my name. It's normal."
