6th June 2019

Neymar rape accuser appears in Brazil TV interview

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By BBC

A woman has appeared on Brazilian TV to go public with accusations that she was raped by star footballer Neymar.

Najila Trindade told the SBT Brasil channel that the incident in a Paris hotel on 15 May was "an assault together with rape".

Neymar has denied the accusations, posting a WhatsApp message exchange to try to prove his innocence.

He appeared briefly to play for Brazil on Wednesday in a game he said was the most difficult of his career.

Neymar was injured after 20 minutes of the match against Qatar in Brasilia and will miss the upcoming 2019 Copa America tournament in Brazil with a ruptured ankle ligament.

What was said in the TV interview?

Ms Trindade says she was attracted to the Paris St-Germain and Brazil forward and wanted to have sex with him.

She said she was flown to Paris and put up in a hotel at Neymar's expense.

Ms Trindade she was an "ordinary person - a model and a student of interior design" and a "daughter and mother".

The interviewer asked Ms Trindade whether what happened was an assault or rape, and Ms Trindade replied that it was "an assault together with rape".

She said that when she met Neymar, he was "aggressive, totally different than the boy that I got to know through the messages".

Ms Trindade said she was initially prepared for consensual sex but demanded the use of a condom. She alleged that Neymar refused, became aggressive again and raped her. She said she told him to stop but he refused.

SBT published part of the interview on Twitter (in Portuguese).

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