The case has been kicked out due to the use of stolen documents
A judge has dismissed the case made against Cristiano Ronaldo by a Nevada woman, who claimed the footballer raped her in 2009.
Kathryn Mayorga, 36, had initially received $375,000 in an out of court settlement, but later claimed she only agreed to the deal because she was ‘mentally unfit’. She later decided to go public with the allegation and pursue a further £56 million in damages.
But as reported by the Associated Press, the case has been kicked out of court by U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey in order to “punish the woman’s attorney, Leslie Mark Stovall.”
Mayorga’s legal team had obtained leaked and stolen documents detailing attorney-client discussions between Ronaldo and his lawyers.
Judge Dorsey said in her 42 page order that Ronaldo had been harmed by Stovall’s conduct.
“I find that the procurement and continued use of these documents was bad faith, and simply disqualifying Stovall will not cure the prejudice to Ronaldo because the misappropriated documents and their confidential contents have been woven into the very fabric of (plaintiff Kathryn) Mayorga’s claims,” the ruling said.
“Harsh sanctions are merited.”
Ronaldo’s legal team never denied that the player and Mayorga had sex in Las Vegas in June 2009, but always maintained that the encounter was consensual, and not rape.
Mayorga went to Las Vegas police after the alleged incident but at first did not identify her attacker by name, and the investigation was subsequently dropped.
She then named Ronaldo as the alleged attacker to the police, but requested that they do nothing with the report.
In 2010, the two sides reportedly agreed a settlement which stipulated that Mayorga would never speak about the case publicly again.
After Der Spiegel had reported the allegations without naming Mayorga, she then went public, waiving her right to anonymity, in 2018.
In October 2018, she filed a lawsuit against Ronaldo, and Las Vegas police reopened the case.
Ronaldo subsequently denied all the accusations, posting a statement on Twitter calling rape an ‘abominable crime’.
