Dani Alves trial: Former Brazil star found guilty of nightclub rape

Dani Alves, the former football player for Barcelona and Brazil, was found guilty by a Spanish court of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

During the early hours of December 31, 2022, the 40-year-old football player—who has had several major achievements during his time as a professional player—denied any sexual assault against the woman.

Alves’ lawyer  had filed an appeal after the decision, requesting that he be declared innocent.

Saying that the decision “recognises what we have always known: the truth [as described] by the victim and the pain there has been,” the victim’s attorney applauded the decision.

He will spend the next four and a half years behind bars. Alves will serve an additional five years of probation in addition to the four and a half years of jail time that the court awarded him.

Nine years in jail was what the prosecution had requested. If convicted of sexual assault, a person facing a 4 to 15-year jail sentence has their allegation of rape evaluated on that broad charge in Spain.

According to Spanish media, while determining how long Alves should serve in jail, the court took into consideration his pledge to compensate the victim with €150,000 (£128,500) in damages, regardless of the verdict.

However, the court rejected the defence lawyer’s claim that, since Alves was intoxicated, the judge ought to have imposed a lighter punishment. When he returned to their Barcelona home the night of the rape, according to his wife Joana Sanz, 31, he seemed extremely intoxicated and proceeded to crash into furniture before passing out on the bed.

Nonetheless, the court maintained that his drinking had no relevance to his actions. According to the prosecution, Alves and his companion had purchased champagne for three young ladies before luring one of them into a nightclub’s VIP section where there was a restroom that she was unaware of.

They said that he became aggressive at this point and had the woman have sex even though she had asked to leave several times. According to Alves, she could have left “if she wanted to.” The court concluded that she did not, however, give consent to the sexual act.

Recent changes to Spanish legislation have established the “Only Yes is Yes” approach, which emphasises the value of consent. The court declared in a statement that there was proof of the victim’s rape that went beyond her testimony.

According to the report, Alves threw her to the ground. Then, it alleged, “the victim replied no and wanted to leave,” and he had raped her while stopping her from leaving.

The woman said that the rape had left her feeling “anguish and horror,” and one of her friends who was there that evening described how the 23-year-old had sobbed “uncontrollably” after exiting the restroom.

Since January 2023, Alves has been detained pending trial and has provided many changing versions of his evidence. After first denying knowing his accuser, he eventually claimed to have met her in the restroom but that their relationship had not developed. He then gave another account of what had happened, this time claiming that they had had consenting intercourse. He said, “We were both having fun.”

Alves played more than 400 times for Barcelona, winning six league titles and three Champions Leagues across two spells with the club. He was also part of Brazil’s 2022 World Cup squad.

He has won trophies playing for Sevilla, Juventus and PSG and is among Brazil’s most capped internationals, with 126 appearances.