The lawyer of Kathryn Mayorga, who has accused Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009, will travel to London to interview a woman who claims to be the soccer star’s ex-girlfriend.
Leslie Mark Stovall, attorney for Mayorga, said in a press release Tuesday that after speaking with British model and reality TV personality Jasmine Lennard he would travel to England to meet the 33-year-old and her attorney, Jonathan Coad.
“Mr Ronaldo has no specific recollection of meeting Ms. Lennard 10 years ago or at any point,” said a statement from Ronaldo’s representatives in London.
“He has not had a relationship with her and he has not had any contact with her, whether in the last 18 months as Ms Lennard suggests, or otherwise.
“The voice notes posted by Ms Lennard on social media are not of Mr Ronaldo. Mr Ronaldo will take appropriate legal action in due course.’”
Ronaldo, 33, has repeatedly denied the allegations. In October he tweeted: “I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.”
Last week Las Vegas police investigating the allegation sent a warrant to authorities in Italy requesting a sample of the Portuguese football superstar’s DNA. The Wall Street Journal reported police sent the warrant to a court in Italy, where Ronaldo plays for famed club Juventus.
Mayorga has said in a lawsuit that Ronaldo raped her in Las Vegas while she repeatedly screamed no. After Mayorga filed a suit, police reopened a criminal investigation into the case, which includes results of a medical exam.
“Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation,” Ronaldo’s attorney Ronaldo’s attorney Peter S. Christiansen said on 10 January.
Visit cnn.com/football for more news and videos
Mayorga went to police eight years ago
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesman Aden Ocampo-Gomez said in October that in 2009 Mayorga made a complaint but did not provide an assailant’s name or the location of the alleged assault.
She wanted only to report a sexual assault and submit to a medical exam, he said.
Investigators did not follow up with Mayorga and the case was closed shortly thereafter, he said. But the evidence, including images and other information from the exam, is still with police. The case was reopened at the request of Mayorga or someone representing her, Ocampo-Gomez said in October.
Las Vegas police did not comment on Thursday.
Mayorga’s lawsuit accuses Ronaldo and his camp of taking advantage of her fragile emotional state to coerce her into signing a settlement and nondisclosure agreement in 2009. She claims she received $375,000 in exchange for her silence. Her lawsuit seeks to void the settlement and agreement.
