Two Brazilian Footballers Sought by Police For Sexual Assault
Police filed the warrants against Lucas Domingues Piazon and Andrey Da Silva Ventura, who represented Brazil in the Pan American Games. The alleged assault occurred on July 25, after the footballers met two women at a bar in Toronto
Toronto police have issued arrest warrants for two Brazilian footballers on charges of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in July. (Read more football stories here)
The warrants were on Thursday filed for 21-year-old Lucas Domingues Piazon and 22-year-old Andrey Da Silva Ventura, who represented Brazil in the Pan American Games this summer, reports Efe.
Toronto Police service inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said at a press conference Thursday that the alleged assault occurred on July 25, after the footballers met two women at a bar in that metropolis.
After accompanying them to their home, the players sexually assaulted one of the women while she was sleeping and then left the residence, Beaven-Desjardins added.
The two players returned to Brazil on July 27.
Piazon lives in England, where he plays for second division side Reading F.C., while Ventura is a goalkeeper for Brazilian club Botafogo SP.
Toronto police will seek to have Ventura tried in Canada, although Beaven-Desjardins acknowledged that since Ottawa and Brasilia do not have an extradition treaty it is unlikely that he will appear before a Canadian judge.
In Piazon's case, the police said it would not request his extradition but that he would be arrested if he travels to the Canadian province of Ontario.
A member of Brazil's water polo squad at the Pan American Games, Thye Mattos Ventura Bezerra, also was issued an arrest warrant by Toronto's police on charges of sexually assaulting a woman while in Canada for that event.