Álvaro Ratón, former goalkeeper of Real Zaragoza, has been acquitted for the third time (and definitively) of the complaint by a woman of sexual assault in 2018. The events allegedly occurred on the night of San Juan in the town of O Carballiño, in Ourense, when he was playing in goal for the Aragonese team.
Now as the keeper for the Greek side Pas Lamia, Ratón has spoken on television about this third acquittal, and has said that he will take measures against the complainant.
The goalkeeper has spent six years of “suffering” during which he has not been able to travel to his village or to his relatives’ homes, due to the restraining order that was against him, because of the “false testimonies” he suffered during the trial.
“I have been acquitted on 3 occasions and I am happy because justice has been done, but I have not been able to enjoy family visits and celebrations for something I did not do. Now that is has been proven and the accusations shown to be false, I have to defend myself,” said Álvaro on the Telecinco programme ‘Vamos a ver’.
During the interview, Ratón said that women must be “supported”, but that this should not be done “at any cost”. “There was nothing more than her word and I immediately became a monster”.
He announced that he will now take action against the woman who accused him and her witnesses. “This cannot be left like this. In a way, it makes a lot of sense. People just want it all to go away and get back to normal when they have been cleared because there comes a time when you do not want to continue, but on the other hand you have to defend what is yours and what is right. Not only against this person, but also against the false testimonies that have been made against me in the trials,” he concluded.
In 2018, a woman reported that the footballer approached her with the intention of being intimate and after she refused, he would not accept her refusal, pushed her, tried to kiss her and subjected her to touching. She demanded four years in prison for the footballer, 10,000 euros in compensation and a restraining order of 500 metres. However, the courts have ruled in favour of the defence three times, with this final decision now bringing his ordeal to an end.
