Cristiano Ronaldo has broken his silence on the recent rape allegations brought against him, and released an official statement strongly denying the accusations.
Read: CR7 Lawyer Dismisses Rape Allegations, Threatens German Magazine
The Juventus superstar, who had initially labelled a report by German publication Der Spiegel – in which it was claimed that he raped American woman Kathryn Mayorga in a hotel in Las Vegas nine years ago – via a video on Instagram as "fake news", has now again denied the allegations made against him.
"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," he wrote on Twitter.
"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."
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.
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 3, 2018
He then posted the same message in Portuguese, before adding: "I will calmly await the outcome of any investigations and proceedings, for nothing weighs my conscience."
The incident allegedly happened in 2009, and back then, Ronaldo's representatives and the lawyer of the victim reportedly agreed to a $375 000 (R5.4 million) out-of-court settlement for her to remain silent.
However, Mayorga – who, in 2009, had filed a case with police without revealing Ronaldo's name in order to protect her family – has now given a detailed version of what happened to Der Spiegel, and following the German publication's report, police in Las Vegas have reopened the case against Ronaldo.
