Cristiano Ronaldo rape accuser suffering from post-traumatic stress, lawyers say
Football star has denied the accusations against him, saying he has a ‘clear conscience’
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Lawyers representing the woman who has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her have said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and depression because of the alleged 2009 attack in Las Vegas.
Kathryn Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Stovall, told reporters on Wednesday that a psychiatrist’s medical opinion is that Ms Mayorga’s psychological injuries made her “incompetent” to legally reach a non-disclosure settlement with the footballer’s representatives in 2010.
Ms Mayorga filed a lawsuit last week seeking to void the agreement she claims to have signed while accepting $375,000 to keep quiet about the alleged encounter.
Ronaldo has denied the accusations of rape against him, saying on Twitter that he had a “clear conscience”.
Las Vegas police say they’ve reopened their investigation of a sexual assault complaint filed nine years ago.
Lawyers for Ms Mayorga, who sued Ronaldo in a district court in Clark County, Nevada on Thursday, said the footballer has 20 days from the filing of the lawsuit to respond.
She has left Las Vegas to escape the attention on her case, her lawyers said at a news conference, in which Ms Mayorga was not present.
“She has decided not to make herself available to the media and stay out of the public because of her emotional state,” lawyer 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.
The lawsuit, which seeks more than $200,000 in damages, names as defendants Ronaldo and an unnamed team of fixers described as “personal reputation protection specialists” hired to make the situation go away.
Lawyers for Ronaldo on Friday threatened to sue German magazine Der Spiegel that published “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, laid out the evidence and stood by its story, which it said was allowed under Germany’s press law.
Agencies contributed to this report