REVEALED: Ronaldo’s rape accuser ‘considered suicide’
A woman who accused Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her said she considered suicide after the alleged attack, her lawyers have revealed.
Kathryn Mayorga is suing the former Manchester United forward over claims he raped her in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
The 34-year-old Nevada woman alleges the footballer then dispatched a team of “fixers” to obstruct the criminal investigation and trick her into keeping quiet for $375,00 (£268,000).
Ronaldo, 33, issued a firm denial of the sexual assault allegations on Wednesday.
The Juventus star insists he has a “clear conscious” (sic) on the matter and that he will now “await with tranquility” for the investigation to unfold.
“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me,” Ronaldo said. “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 will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.”
The lawsuit says Ms Mayorga asked police last month to reopen the criminal case.
Las Vegas police confirmed on Monday that they have reopened a sexual assault case from 2009.
Her lawyers held a press conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday evening, where they revealed a psychiatric evaluation concluded she was psychologically unfit to enter into a non-disclosure agreement and settlement with Ronaldo’s lawyers.
A paper statement handed out to reporters in the room stated that, when she instructed lawyers, Ms Mayorga “appeared to be emotionally fragile and frightened”.
It continued: “She explained that since the 2009 sexual assault she had experienced depression, intrusive thoughts, considered suicide, abused alcohol, had difficulty maintaining personal relationships and employment.”
They added that her emotional distress, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression was a direct result of the alleged assault.
The sportman has 20 days from the filing of the lawsuit to respond, her lawyers said.
Ms Mayorga has left Las Vegas to escape the attention on her case, 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. “It is not pleasant for her.”
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.
Lawyers for Ronaldo, one of the world’s best-known athletes, on Friday threatened to sue German magazine Der Spiegel for publishing “blatantly illegal” accusations by Ms Mayorga.
Der Spiegel’s deputy editor-in-chief, Alfred Weinzierl, told Reuters on Sunday that the magazine had worked professionally, confronted and laid out the evidence and stood by its story, which it said was allowed under Germany’s press law.