Premier League Player Accused of Sexual Assault

A Premier League player was recently arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. According to The Sun, the soccer player was asleep when six police cars arrived at his home. He was arrested after a woman accused him of raping her during a holiday in the Mediterranean. The player has not been identified, but The Sun said he is in his late 20s. 

The woman, who is in her 20s, claimed that she was raped during a “sunshine break” last month. She spoke to police about the assault and show them photos that claimed highlighted bruising on her body. The player spent at least 15 hours being questioned by detectives and was due to travel on a pre-season tour with his team. He is set to appear in the World Cup in Qatar later this year. 

“The allegations are of the utmost seriousness,” a source told The Sun. “Club bosses are stunned about this. The player was due to be on a pre-season tour. He will now not be traveling with the side. The law must be allowed to dictate what happens next. The player’s colleagues are absolutely dumbstruck about this. It is a hammer blow to the club, but the police must do their job.”

According to The Guardian, the reason the player has not been named has to do with the College of Policing guidance as the Metropolitan police do not identify people who have been arrested before they are charged. As for news outlets, this goes back to “a mixture of convention and legal precedent going back to the 2012 Leveson report on media standards, which recommended suspects remain anonymous pre-charge.”

In 2020, Joshua Rozenberg of A Lawyer Writes talked about how of Member of Parliament (MP) wasn’t named in a sexual assault case. “Rape complainants are entitled to anonymity,” he wrote. “Once the MP is named, it may be possible to identify the complainant by piecing together information in the public domain, a process known as jigsaw identification. That’s why offenders who sexually assault family members are not named. But I have not heard of the same protection being extended to former employees.” According to The Sun, the player was re-arrested on suspicion of two incidents of rape in 2021 against a different woman. The club reportedly was made aware of the allegation against the athlete, and he continued to play for them.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.