Neymar: Rape investigation against Brazilian footballer closed by police due to lack of evidence

Case against Paris Saint-Germain footballer passed on to prosecutors for final decision after investigation suspended by police

Brazilian Police have closed the investigation into allegations that footballer Neymar raped a women.

The Sao Paulo attorney general’s office has said that the investigation has been suspended due to a lack of evidence, following accusations from Brazilian model Najila Trindade that the Paris Saint-Germain footballer sexually assaulted her at a Paris hotel in May.

Authorities did confirm that the case has been sent to prosecutors for a final decision.

Neymar has denied all allegations and claimed that he is being extorted by Ms Trindade, who has repeatedly identified herself publicly as the alleged victim.

A spokesman for Neymar declined to comment on the decision to the police investigation, though Sao Paulo police investigator Juliana Lopes Bussacos delivered her report on the case on Monday and a final decision is expected to be announced publicly on Tuesday, although prosecutors have up to 15 days to come to a judgement.

The allegations first came to light publicly in June when a Sao Paulo police document was released confirming that Neymar had been accused of rape by a women who met him at a hotel in the French capital, before the Brazilian international released a seven-minute video on Instagram to deny the accusations.

The 27-year-old was quizzed by police back in his homeland during the summer, but is currently in Asia on PSG’s pre-season tour.

Neymar also published WhatApp messages and images that claimed to be from Ms Trindade, claiming that he was releasing them to “prove that nothing really happened”, though he is still under investigation by Rio de Janeiro police after allegedly publishing the images without Ms Trindade’s consent.

The case gripped Brazil as newspaper front pages were dominated by the accusations, and Ms Trindade appeared in a television interview soon after to release a video clip allegedly showing an altercation between the two.

Brazilian Police however filed a defamation suit against Ms Trindade after she allegedly claimed they were corrupt, while she was dropped by a number of lawyers during the investigation.