TOAlvaro Aguado decided to speak. More than a year after the investigation into an alleged sexual assault of an employee of the Spanishthe Jaén footballer published a video on social networks to defend his version and vindicate his presumption of innocence. The Prosecutor’s Office requests nine years in prison for the experico, currently without a team after ending his contract with the Catalan club on last June 30.
“After everything we have experienced and after a week of reflection on the latest news that came out, I feel that the time has come to speak,” Aguado begins. “Silence also has consequences,” adds the 30-year-old footballer, who assures that his life has completely changed since the case became known.
“A year ago my life stopped suddenly and since then I have not been able to practice my profession due to a very serious accusation,” laments the midfielder. Aguado maintains that much of the information disseminated publicly does not reflect aspects that, according to him, already appear in the judicial procedure. “What the direct witnesses who testified in court saw did not count, nor the inconsistencies and inexplicable gaps in the complainant’s statement, nor the contradictions between her version and that of the witnesses present there, nor the initial medical reports that prove that there was not a single sign of aggression,” he explains.
The former Espanyol player believes that, if public opinion knew all the elements already incorporated into the case, “it would understand that reality differs greatly from the story that has been spread.” Aguado hopes that the trial will arrive as soon as possible because, as he explains, it will be there where “the facts, evidence and testimonies will be analyzed in depth, where the truth of what happened and who the victim really is will be known.”
The reported events would have occurred on the night of June 23, 2024 during the celebration of Espanyol’s promotion, at the Opium nightclub in Barcelona. In his message, Aguado also left a reflection on the impact of this type of process. “There are crimes and whoever commits them must answer for them. Both those who attack and those who lie, because both can destroy a life. And no one deserves to live in fear, not a woman for being attacked, nor a man for being falsely accused,” he says.
The weight of the accusation
Aguado also understands that situations like this “dirty the legitimate struggle of women who have been attacked and deserve protection, credibility and respect.” The footballer also addressed those who have publicly accused him since the case came to light. “To those who point me out without knowing, I only wish one thing: that neither they nor their loved ones ever have to go through something like this. I say it from the bottom of my heart, the fear, shame, anger, helplessness, pain and damage received are so great that not even someone without scruples would deserve to experience something similar.”
The man from Jaén closed his speech showing confidence that the judicial process will end by clarifying what happened. “Every day that passes is one less day for everything to be known and I can begin to rebuild what was unjustly taken from me,” concludes in the video published on his social networks.
