The captain of the Cape Verde soccer team is being accused of raping his female translator in her hotel room just before the start of the World Cup games, a report says.
Ryan Mendes, 36, is being accused of attacking a Brazilian woman whom his team hired to translate for him when the Cape Verde team played in New Zealand back in March, the New York Post reported.
The translator, who has not been publicly identified, claims that she informed at least three Cape Verde soccer officials, but nothing came of her complaint.
With a population fewer than 620,000 people, Cape Verde is the smallest nation ever to reach the World Cup.
The case came into the hands of the New Zealand police last month. Authorities have already secured the security footage of the Auckland hotel in which the victim says she was attacked. But Mendes has not yet been charged as officials continue the investigation.
The alleged victim claims that she had attended what she thought was a team meeting, but found she was not needed for translation because it was merely a social gathering, so she returned to her hotel room. Mendes, she says, then followed her to the room.
She added that Mendes knocked on her door, and when she answered it, he immediately forced his way inside, punched her in the face, bit her, and then raped her.
A police report shows photos of injuries to her mouth, neck, leg, and side.
Neither the team nor Cape Verde’s state officials have responded to the allegations.
FIFA said in a statement that it is monitoring the case and taking the allegations “extremely seriously.” But the organization would not make any further comments while the investigation continues.
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