Former Barcelona footballer Dani Alves sentenced to four and a half years in jail over sexual assault

FC Barcelona legend Dani Alves has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault by the Provincial Court of Barcelona.

The Brazilian, 40, will also be forced to compensate the victim with a payment of $163,000 (€150,000) and has been hit with a nine and a half year restraining order. Upon release, Alves will have to complete five years’ worth of probation.

As reported by SPORT, the court ruled that the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse and that there is evidence to prove the rape that Alves was accused of carrying out in a bathroom of the Sutton nightclub’s VIP section in the early hours of 31 December 2022.

Alves was arrested three weeks after the incident and detained ever since while accused of “sexual assault with penetration”.

Prosecutors called for a nine-year prison term for Alves followed by 10 years of probation. They also wanted him to pay $163,000 (€150,000) in compensation to the victim, which has been ordered by the court.

The former Brazil international and three-time Champions League winner with Barca initially denied knowing the victim in a TV interview. Later, however, he admitted having sex with her but claimed it was consensual.

Alves subsequently told Catalan newspaper La Vanguardia that he had originally lied because he was afraid his wife Joanna Sanz would leave him.
At the end of a three-day trial concluded on Wednesday last week, Alves denied raping the young woman when taking the stand.

“If she wanted to leave, she could have left, she was not obligated to be there,” Alves told the court, adding that “at no time” had the victim asked to leave.
Alves denied hitting the woman and grabbing her hair too, protesting “I am not a violent man” during an appearance on the stand that lasted almost 20 minutes.

When the trial opened on Monday last week, the victim testified for more than an hour but did so behind a screen so that she couldn’t be identified.
The following day, around 20 witnesses took the stand with a friend of Alves’ who was in his company on the night of the incident explaining that Alves drank a lot of alcohol ahead of entering the Sutton nightclub.

A friend who was with the victim on the same evening broke down in tears when telling the court that the woman was “crying uncontrollably” after leaving the bathroom, and said that Alves had “really hurt” her.

In their statements to the court, police officers explained the victim was in a state of “shock” when they arrived at Sutton and was anxious that “nobody would believe” her accusations when filing a complaint.

Alves was sentenced just over a week after the trial concluded, at around 10:00 AM on Thursday morning in Barcelona.

Both parties may appeal the ruling to the High Court of Justice of Catalonia, which should issue its own verdict in a few months.

Mundo Deportivo carried a quote from Alves’ legal representative Ines Guardiola, who revealed plans to do so.

“At this moment I can only tell you that we are going to appeal the sentence. I continue to believe in Mr Alves’ innocence. I have to study the sentence but I can tell you that we are going to appeal,” Guardiola said.

SOURCE: Forbes