Two Brazilian footballers sought by police for sexual assault

Toronto police have issued arrest warrants for two Brazilian footballers on charges of sexually assaulting a 21-year-old woman in July.

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.