Former Sunderland footballer Cabral CLEARED of rape Case

Former Sunderland footballer Cabral CLEARED of rape Case.  Cabral smiles as he leaves Hull Crown Court today after he was cleared of raping a woman he met in a nightclub by a jury. His accuser told a jury that the ex-Sunderland player - real name Adilson Tavares Varela - pinned her down and raped her after they met during a night out in Newcastle.

Cabral, who always insisted the sex was consensual, said he has been through '15 months of hell' after he was cleared today.

The jury's verdicts came after mobile phone footage played in court showed the woman in bed with Newcastle players Kevin Mbabu and Rolando Aarons days before the trial began.

During the evidence, she also admitted she had a sexual relationship with former Newcastle winger Kezengar LuaLua when she was younger - despite having previously insisted she was not interested in footballers.

The woman denied having relationships with Ranger and Toney, saying it was 'all lies'. She said she had known Hoganson from when she was younger and he was not a footballer.

The court also heard claims the woman had visited a nightclub in Newcastle seven days into the trial only to be kicked out.

Speaking outside court today, Cabral said: 

'The jury has been shown the sort of girl she is.

'I still don't know why she did this. I don't want to talk about here today because I have justice. It has affected my life in so many ways.' 

He criticised the anonymity granted to his accuser, adding: 'I think in England more than anywhere it's too easy for a girl to do something like this.

'She lied all about me but she had nothing. I go in the press, I'm accused of rape, but she has nothing, you can see in the courts she lived normally, she go out, she go drink, she go party, go to after-party, life was normal for her.

'I think you need to do something about this because it's too easy for a girl to say someone raped you, that is not sure, but their life keeps going.'

The 22-year-old woman in the case denied claims she was after compensation, insisting she wanted justice.

Judge Jeremy Richardson, QC, said today: 

'There was a submission at the end of the prosecution case for the trial to be stopped. I could not stop the case in law.

'I observed at the time, if I had the power to stop a weak case, I would have done so. I make no observations about the propriety of bring proceedings.

'I do not criticise anybody in bringing the case even though as events turned out it was not a strong case.'

The player said he and the woman had consensual sex after going back to his flat in Gateshead with friends, including retired French international Anthony Reveillere, in January last year. 

Cabral - a former teammate of disgraced winger Adam Johnson - told police he regularly went on nights out looking for sex, despite having a fiancee in Switzerland.

The footballer admitted he had given his accuser a false name and did not know her age or anything about her.

He said she initiated sex in his bedroom and after five minutes complained she was tired. 

When he told her he had not finished, he said: 'I told her to f*** off. I wanted to finish.

'I put my clothes on and went out of the bedroom. I tried to call another girl. Some girl, I have seen sometimes.' 

Cabral's defence barrister Kitty Taylor said the girl was put under pressure after a friend asked her in a text 'were you raped' and she texted back 'yes.'

Mrs Taylor said the girl was told to tell her mother and, once the lie was out, the ball kept rolling as the police had been called.