EX-SOCCER STAR IS JAILED FOR 9 YEARS FOR KNIFEPOINT RAPE WHICH FIEND FILMED

A FORMER soccer player who filmed himself raping a young woman at knifepoint was jailed for nine years yesterday.

- BY OLIVIA KELLEHER

Tiago Damasceno Sousa, 39, also threatened to kill the 19-year-old and her parents, his sentence hearing at Cork Central Criminal Court heard.

The predator, who played for America Mineiro in Brazil, admitted he raped the woman at her home on March 29, 2024.

The court heard she woke to Sousa leaning over her bed at 7am. He was armed with a knife and covered her mouth. He warned her to “shut up” and said if she failed to comply he would kill her and her parents.

Detective Garda Áine O’Regan told the court the teenager tried to trick him in a bid to get him to leave her alone.

The witness said: “She agreed to have sex the following day. But he kept slapping her in the face, saying, ‘No, you are going to do it now’. She agreed to oral sex. He was still holding the knife.

“When she said ‘no video’ he told her to shut up. He slapped her on the face because he believed she was not showing pleasure.

“He kept apologising to her. He said he had proof she was enjoying it.”

She said: “No matter how many showers I had it felt like his fingerprints were on my body permanently. If someone was to touch me, even a hug, it terrified me.