Manchester United forward, Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer expected to appear in court over a rape allegation if a ruling by a federal magistrate judge in Nevada is anything to go by.
Recall that few months after Cristiano Ronaldo joined Real Madrid from Manchester United in 2009, he decided to go on holiday in Nevada.
It was in the American city he met with one Kathryn Mayorga at a nightclub. They exchanged contacts and invited the American lady to his hotel room. Mayorga went to Ronaldo’s hotel room and they had fun together.
But weeks later, it was all over the news that Cristiano Ronaldo raped Kathryn Mayorga. After a series of back and forth, Ronaldo decided to initiate an out-of-court settlement which Mayorga agreed to.
The football star paid the sum of $375,000 to the American lady which she accepted in August 2010. She however made a u-turn and decided to take the rape case to court with the help of a human rights group.
Since then, Mayorga’s lawyers and Ronaldo’s lawyers have been having a go at each other over the rape allegation.
The scandal received renewed attention when a banner flew over Old Trafford on September 11, 2021, when Ronaldo was making his second debut at Manchester United against Newcastle United. The banner was used to call for support for Mayorga who is still insisting that Ronaldo raped her over 12 years ago.
After Mayorga brought the rape case to court, Ronaldo was quoted as saying: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything I am and believe in.”
On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, a federal magistrate judge in Nevada, Magistrate Judge Daniel Albregts dismissed the rape charge against Ronaldo.
In his ruling, the magistrate judge blamed Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall, for basing the case on leaked and stolen documents. The judge said the documents contained privileged communications between Ronaldo and his lawyers.
“Dismissing Mayorga’s case for the inappropriate conduct of her attorney is a harsh result,” Albregts wrote in his recommendation to US District Judge Jennifer Dorsey.
“But it is, unfortunately, the only appropriate sanction to ensure the integrity of the judicial process…
“Stovall has acted in bad faith to his client’s – and his profession’s – detriment.”
In reaction to the judge’s decision, Ronaldo’s attorney in Las Vegas, Peter Christiansen, said: “We are pleased with the Court’s detailed review of this matter and its willingness to justly apply the law to the facts and recommend dismissal of the civil case against Mr. Ronaldo.”
At the time of publishing this report, a date for the US District Judge to take up Albregts’ recommendation was yet to be fixed.
It is worthy to note that Kathryn Mayorga’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall has 14 days from Wednesday, to contest Judge Albregts’ decision.
⏪ Flashback to 2019 as @Cristiano took the #NationsLeague golden boot thanks to this hat-trick… pic.twitter.com/eTVOB6Vzc7
— UEFA (@UEFA) October 6, 2021
