Rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo
Current Affairs
Last week, when Sky News shared the video of football pundit Jamie Carragher welcoming Ronaldo back to Manchester United, the media organization hid all the comments that talked about Ronaldo’s rape allegations under the video.
The incident
On June 12, 2009, Kathryn Mayorga, 25 back then, met Ronaldo, aged 24 then, at Rain, an exclusive club in Las Vegas. The same night, the two went back to the players' suite in Palms Place Hotel along with a few others for a hot-tub party.
According to the model, it is here that she was raped, when she was changing and the player walked in, persuading him to have intercourse.
Medical test
Refusing to reveal the identity of the accused, the next day the model reported the incident to the police, only revealing that the accused was a public figure and an athlete. Her real identity concealed, Kathryn underwent a “rape-kit”, a special test for sexual assault victims that records any evidence of rape-- medical or photographic, which concluded that she had been penetrated.
In September 2009, Kathryn’s lawyer contacted the player’s lawyer regarding the allegation, following which a questionnaire was submitted to Ronaldo, his brother-in-law, and his cousin, who were also present in LA when the incident occurred.
“I'm not like the others. I apologized afterwards”
Apparently, there are several versions of answers for the questions, but the most significant one is the September response in which Ronaldo has admitted that Kathryn “said no and stop several times.”
The answer to this question was changed to simple ‘No’ in December 2009. According to the document, Ronaldo also revealed, “She said that she didn't want to, but she made herself available. But she kept saying 'No.' 'Don't do it.'
“A piece of journalistic fiction”
In October 2018, the Los Angeles Police department reopened the rape case against Ronaldo. When questioned about the charges, the Portuguese star’s lawyers dismissed them as false and claimed that it was “a piece of journalistic fiction”.
Ronaldo has maintained the stance that whatever happened was consensual.
However, the claims of documents being unsigned and identities not clear have been proved false by Der Spiegel. ‘Ronaldo’s team repeatedly threatened to sue the organization but never followed up.
“Cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt”
In July 2019, prosecutors from the US said that Ronaldo won’t be charged for rape since the allegations against him “cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”
However, due to inconsistencies in Ronaldo’s story, other rape allegations from 2005, along with documents from Der Spiegel, Mayorga received strong public support. This has led her to file a civil lawsuit against the player, on grounds of being "mentally incapacitated" while signing the NDA in 2010.
USD 375,000 Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
In 2017, Der Spiegel, a German news website, via Football Leaks- a whistleblower platform, revealed the existence of the NDA, through the piece “Cristiano Ronaldo’s secret”. The piece talked about the trauma Kathryn Mayorga went through after the rape incident, and how her new lawyer sought to declare the NDA void on the grounds that she was not psychologically competent to enter the agreement.
Inspired by the #MeToo movement, in September 2018, Kathryn went public with her identity, waived off anonymity and reopened the case.
Unequivocal support may cause harm
LA's Judge Jennifer Dorsey will preside over the civil case. A date for the hearing has not been set as of now.
A lot of Ronaldo fans have come out in support, entirely ignoring the possibility that he might just have done the crime. The model has been called an ‘attention seeker’ and a ‘gold digger’ who did this for ‘fame’.
However, not even acknowledging that she might be a possible survivor speaks volumes of the public figure worshipping culture that we are in today.
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