Published on 23.02.2024
Catalonia’s top court yesterday found former Brazil footballer Dani Alves guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, sentencing him to 4½ years in prison.
The court also ordered that Alves pay 150,000 euros ($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 plaintiff, to consider the rape proven,” the court said in a statement.
He had been held on remand at Brians 2 Prison near the Catalan capital since his arrest in January last year.
Alves, whose lawyer confirmed today she would appeal, protested his innocence on February 7 after taking the stand on the last day of his three-day trial at Barcelona’s Audiencia Provincial court.
He claimed he had consensual sex in a toilet at upmarket Barcelona nightclub Sutton in the early hours of December 31, 2022 with his 23-year-old female accuser.
The woman insisted the footballer had forced himself on her after hitting her when she gave her evidence in court behind a screen.
State prosecutors wanted him jailed for nine years and a lawyer acting for his victim had demanded he was caged for 12 years if convicted.
The three trial judges confirmed in a 61-page written ruling released after Alves learned his sentence in this morning’s behind-closed-doors court hearing they had taken into account as a ‘mitigating factor’ his pre-payment of the £128,000 (€150,000) he was ordered to give his victim as compensation.
They concluded she had danced with Alves before going voluntarily to a toilet next to Sutton’s VIP area the footballer had entered moments earlier in what they described as an apparent ‘prior agreement’ to ‘be with him in a more intimate space.’
“The sentence takes into consideration that it has been proven the victim did not consent and that there is evidence in addition to their testimony that proves the offence.”
Alves’ requests for bail were denied because the court considered him a flight risk. Brazil does not extradite its own citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.
