Portuguese footballer Rúben Semedo has been arrested in Greece following the allegation of rape by a 17-year-old.
The girl’s age means Semedo risks a charge of ‘rape of a minor’.
The 27-year-old contracted to Greek club Olimpiakos was arrested last night.
Local reports explain how the teenager made the complaint in the company of her mother.
She told police that she met Semedo “at a bar in Oropos for drinks” the night before, “after which he drove her to his house in the southern suburb of Glyfada where she alleged she was sexually assaulted” (see update below).
Semedo is due to face a prosecutor on Tuesday, writes greek city times online.
A second person has been implicated in the case, but not detained.
As Portuguese dailies add, this is not the first time Semedo has been in trouble with the law. “In 2018 he was detained in preventive custody for five months in Spain over suspicions that with two others he had kidnapped a man from whom, under threat of a pistol, his apartment keys were taken where money and objects were stolen”.
A court in Valencia ended up giving him a five year prison sentence, suspended, writes Diário de Notícias.
Elsewhere, Record (sports paper) explains that Semedo “escaped a possible 15 and a half year sentence”. The court also barred him from entering Spain during the eight-year suspension of his jail term, and ordered him to pay civil indemnity of €46,000 to the victim, says tabloid Correio da Manhã.
UPDATE:
Rúben Semedo’s lawyer Stavros Georgopoulos has refuted the allegations against his client, telling reporters: “My client denies the charges, lamenting the fact that he has been exposed and has to give a declaration under duress. When someone is accused it should be with evidence in terms of behaviour. There is solid evidence that precludes an accusation”.
Mr Georgopoulos intimated that the victim looks older than her years. The pair were together for 15 hours, he added. “It is inconceivable that (my client) should be accused like this…”
