Ex-Barcelona player Dani Alves sentenced to prison for sexual assault،
Catalonia's highest court on Thursday found former Brazilian footballer Dani Alves guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, sentencing him to 4 and a half years in prison.
The court also ordered Alves to pay €150,000 ($162,990) to the victim.
“The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent and that there is evidence, in addition to the testimony of the complainant, allowing the rape to be considered proven,” the court said in a press release.
Alves had argued the sex was consensual and his lawyers told reporters outside the courthouse that he intends to appeal the sentence, which also includes five years' probation upon his release and a court order. 9 and a half year ban.
The prosecutor asked for a nine-year prison sentence.
“We are satisfied because the sentence recognizes what we have always said: that the victim was telling the truth and that she suffered,” the victim's lawyer, David Saenz, told the press, adding that his team would analyze whether the sentence matched. to the seriousness of the crime.
Alves' lawyer, Ines Guardiola, disagreed with the conviction, saying: “We will appeal. I still believe in the innocence of Dani Alves. We have not read the whole sentence yet because it is very long, but we will now study in detail. We defend [Alves’] innocence.”
Alves, 40, was arrested in January 2023 after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the toilets of an upscale Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.
Since then, Alves had remained in pretrial detention in Spain, with a judge regularly refusing requests for bail and deeming him a flight risk.
The case was heard over three days in a Barcelona court earlier this month, with Alves changing his story for the fifth time shortly before the trial began.
At first, he maintained that he did not know the woman who accused him. He later said he met the woman in the club's toilets but nothing happened.
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain defender, when confronted with biological evidence, changed his version of events again, claiming she performed consensual oral sex on him.
Last April, following the results of further biological tests, Alves admitted for the first time to having sex with the woman, saying it was consensual and that he had lied to hide his infidelity with his wife.
Before the hearing, Alves said for the first time that he was drunk that evening.
“I'm not that kind of man,” Alves said in response to his lawyer's question during the trial whether he forced the woman to have sex.
The woman told state prosecutors that she danced with Alves and entered the bathroom willingly, but later when she wanted to leave, he wouldn't let her. She said he slapped, insulted and raped her.
Alves denied this.
“We were both having fun,” Alves said, while repeatedly saying the woman never asked to leave or implied she didn’t want to have sex with him. He also denied slapping or insulting her.
During the three-day trial, a friend and cousin of the victim said she was “distraught” after coming out of the toilet, while police officers who attended to her that night testified that she had been deeply shaken and told them that she had been sexually assaulted by Alves.
Alves' friend who accompanied him said the footballer drank wine and whiskey before going to a nightclub; Being drunk can be considered a mitigating circumstance by a court and lead to a shorter prison sentence.
According to his friend, Alves and the woman danced together and showed chemistry before going to the bathroom and he did not notice anything unusual about the woman afterward.
The forensic psychologist who examined the woman said she suffered post-traumatic symptoms, a conclusion disputed by an outside expert called by the defense.
In a career that spanned more than 20 years, Alves won major titles with elite clubs including Barca, Juventus and PSG. He also helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at the age of 38.
He played in his third World Cup, the only major title he did not win, in 2022. He played for Barça from 2008 to 2016 and briefly rejoined the club for a second spell in 2022 before leaving. settle in Mexico with the Pumas.
Alves' contract with the Mexican club was terminated immediately after his arrest.
Reporting from Reuters and ESPN's Sam Marsden contributed to this report.
