The 24-year-old, Erika Do Rosario Nieves, who was legally declared the daughter of former Cameroonian soccer player Samuel Eto’o in 2022, has reached an agreement with her father for the payment of approximately 90,000 euros in arrears maintenance pensions. This agreement marks the closure of a judicial process that began in 2018 in a court in Madrid.
Erika’s lawyer, Fernando Osuna, explained to EFE that both parties have reached a “satisfactory” agreement after intense negotiations between lawyers for both parties. This week, the agreed money has been deposited in the young woman’s checking account, ending the dispute.
In 2018, Erika Do Rosario Nieves filed a lawsuit to have the paternity of Samuel Eto’o recognized. The meeting between Erika’s mother, Adileusa, and the player occurred in a Madrid nightclub in 1997, when Eto’o was playing for CD Leganés, introduced by a mutual friend.
Although the lawsuit was filed in 2018, the maintenance pension, which amounted to 1,400 euros per month, was granted during a hearing held in 2020. This was the aspect that was claimed in the lawsuit recently filed before the court of first instance number 83 of Madrid.
The complaint included the request for 12 months in prison for the former player, who already had a record for a tax offense in Italy and non-payment of pensions to another daughter in the same country.
The lawyer explained that Erika’s mother informed the player in February 1998 that she was pregnant, to which Eto’o responded by saying that he would take responsibility for the child, although he would prefer that they not have it. During the pregnancy, the mother tried to contact her future father, but she received no response to her phone calls or emails. She even told him by phone message that she was going to give birth, but she didn’t get a response either.
The girl was born in 1999 at the Fundación Alarcón hospital in Madrid, when the footballer was at RCD Espanyol, without him ever recognizing her.
To back up her testimony, the young woman presented biological evidence confirming her relationship with Samuel Eto’o. This evidence led the judge to admit the claim, but Eto’o never responded to the court’s requirements.
The lawyer, Fernando Osuna, has highlighted the agreement reached between both parties in this case and has urged “other parents” who are in the same situation not to evade their responsibility and seek agreements with their children, since they should not pay the mistakes of the past. Today, the Justice is very committed to these issues and, ultimately, the children are the ones who always benefit in this type of case.
