Just one day after Cristiano Ronaldo’s former girlfriend, Jasmine Lennard accused him of subjecting her to years of verbal and emotional abuse, there is a new development in a 2009 rape case against the Juventus striker.
According to a Thursday report by The Wall Street Journal, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has issued a warrant for Ronaldo’s DNA.
The reason for the warrant for the player’s DNA is to test it to ascertain if it matches with the DNA found on the dress worn by Kathryn Mayorga on the night she claims Ronaldo raped her.
Mayorga had accused Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. She claimed that the former Real Madrid star had invited her to a party in his hotel room and once they were alone, he forced her to have anal sex with him while she begged him to stop.
Although the 33-year-old Ronaldo has not denied that he and Mayorga had sex, he however maintains that they had consensual sex and he did not rape her.
On the same day Mayorga says she was raped, she went to the police to report it and had a rape kit done. The dress that is being tested for DNA was collected as evidence at that time.
The Journal reported that Mayorga’s DNA is on the dress and so is the DNA of an unknown party.
Despite reporting the alleged rape to the authorities, Mayorga never pressed charges. She says she received a $375,000 settlement from Ronaldo which required her to sign a non-disclosure agreement forbidding her from talking about the incident.
The Las Vegas police however reopened the rape case when Mayorga finally filed a civil suit against the Portuguese national football team captain in 2018.
Ronaldo and his lawyers have declined to comment on the warrant which has been sent to Italy and is making its way through the court system.
Italian authorities are expected to serve the warrant and collect the DNA from Ronaldo before sending it back to Las Vegas for it to be tested.
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