Monday, February 3, 2025 - Spain international, Jenni Hermoso told a court today that the unwanted kiss from former Spanish football chief Luis Rubiales after she helped her country win the women's World Cup 'stained' one of the happiest days of her life.
The 34-year-old striker said she felt Rubiales had 'abused'
her as a woman by kissing her on the lips without her consent on the medal
podium after her team's 1-0 triumph
over England in Sydney in 2023.
She told the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid she had been
reduced to tears after accusing Rubiales and his aides of trying to pressure
her into claiming the kiss was just a 'spur-of-the-moment' peck on the lips
which hadn't bothered her.
The 47-year-old dad-of-three is accused of s3xual ass@ult
and coercion over the kiss and his subsequent alleged behaviour.
Public prosecutors want him jailed for a year if convicted
of the first offence and handed an 18-month prison sentence if found guilty of
coercion.
Former Spain head coach Jorge Vilda, ex-men's team director
Albert Luque, and former Spanish FA marketing director Ruben Rivera are
Rubiales' co-defendants and are facing 18-month prison sentences if convicted
of coercion.
Taking the witness stand, Hermoso said: 'From the first day
it was clear to me I wanted to denounce what happened.'
Recalling how she greeted Spain's Queen Letizia and the
royal's then 16-year-old daughter as she went to collect her World Cup-winning
medal before coming face-to-face with Rubiales, she said: 'I told him,
"What a blast we've had" and he replied: "We've won this World
Cup thanks to you."
'He put his hands on my ears and then came the kiss.'
Telling public prosecutor Marta Durantez during questioning
the former Spanish FA boss grabbed hold of her head 'forcefully' and didn't
give her any time to react, she added: 'It was a thousandth of a second.
'I felt it was totally out of context. My boss was kissing
me and what was happening shouldn't occur in any working context.'
Asked whether she felt 'abused' as a woman, she added: 'Yes,
I felt very little respect. Luis Rubiales never asked if I wanted a kiss before
he kissed me.
'It was a moment that stained one of the happiest days of my
life.'
Claiming the pressure on her to tell the world Rubiales had
kissed her on the lips in the excitement of the moment and that it hadn't
bothered her started almost immediately, she said she was called off the team
coach by a press officer who showed her a statement she was supposed to have
penned herself.
Hermoso told the court: 'I skim-read it and said and knew I
hadn't written a word of it.
'It was a statement I had supposedly drafted myself and
consented to being put out to fan the flames of the fuss that was being created
by the kiss.
'The statement said Luis Rubiales and I were good friends
and the kiss happened in the effusiveness of the moment. I said I didn't agree
to it going out.'
She said Rubiales himself approached her during a stopover
in Doha on the plane on the way back to Spain, where the former Spanish FA
boss's daughters Lucia and Ana were travelling, she added: 'He helped me to
assist him by doing a video with him because of all the social media reaction.
'I told him I wasn't going to do anything, that I wasn't the
one who had started things. He told me "Please, my two daughters are in
the back of the plane crying."
'I repeated that I wasn't going to do it and I remember him
saying he had a girlfriend at that time and it hadn't bothered her.'
Alleging then-manager Vilda had approached her brother on
the plane to try to put pressure on her to change her mind, she said: 'I felt
totally unprotected in what should have been a safe place for me which was my
team.
'No-one asked me if I needed anything. The only thing Luis
Rubiales and his aides did was to try to protect their reputation.
'From the first moment I reached Spain I had cameras after
me 24 hours, people following me, people taking photos while I was having
breakfast with my family.
'I had to leave Madrid with my family.
'I felt fear at times of being in the street. I received
death threats and messages of all types and we had to leave Madrid because the
situation was unbearable. It was a change in my life and I still say my life
changed from that minute.'
Asked how many times she had been asked to put out a press
release or statement supporting Rubiales, Hermoso said: 'Too many to count. The
situation prevented me from enjoying being a World Champion.'
Two of Rubiales' three daughters, the ones who were on the
plane, are due to give evidence on his behalf next Monday.
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