Cristiano Ronaldo has said he is ‘very confident’ he will be cleared ‘soon’ of a high profile rape allegation.
Former school teacher Kathryn Mayorga claims that the Juventus forward raped her at his Las Vegas hotel room in June 2009 and since going public with her case this year, Ronaldo has faced intense scrutiny.
He however, has maintained his innocence throughout, and speaking to Portuguese media said he expects the saga to come to an end soon.
‘It hurt me to see my family upset about the news, but they know I would never be able to do that,’ he told the newspaper, Record .
‘I was completely calm and very confident that soon everything will be clear,’ he added.
After Miss Mayorga filed her civil lawsuit in September this year, Las Vegas police confirmed they had reopened their criminal investigation into the alleged sex assault.
Her lawyers have vowed to take the case all the way to the Supreme Court if needed.
But back in early October, Ronaldo – who had been silent until then, tweeted to say he firmly denied the allegations.
‘I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. 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,’ he said.
He followed that tweet with a further message, saying that his ‘clear conscience’ will allow him to await the results of an investigation ‘with tranquility’.
At the beginning of October, it had been reported that Miss Mayorga had left the US and wanted to avoid the cameras due to her emotional state.
In a press conference given by her lawyer on October 3, Mr Stovall said that she had experienced a lot of problems following the alleged rape.
‘This is an individual who suffers from major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
‘She has a lot of problems attributable to the 2009 sexual assault and it’s been very difficult for her over the last eight or nine years.
‘In dealing with Ms Mayorga and her family we have been particularly careful and mindful of her emotional state.’
It was also reported that she had only signed the original ‘hush contract’, as she was scared of the repercussions of defying a celebrity such as Ronaldo.
‘The reason why I signed the contract in the first place (was) because I didn’t want my name out there.
‘It’s a pretty famous guy. So I’m terrified. I’m scared.’
During an interview in September, her mother Cheryl described how the alleged attack had changed her daughter.
‘It’s never left her. Every day, she lives it,’ she said.
‘There were times when she would call me and he would be on a billboard or whatever, and she would just completely disintegrate. Having to walk into a store to get a pint of milk, and you’ve got his picture everywhere.
‘He’s the soccer god that everybody thinks is just perfect and flawless. And she can’t even get out of bed some days.’
