by Lorenzo Nicolao
Former Barcelona and Juventus full-back Dani Alves accused of raping a girl in the bathroom on New Year’s Eve 2023. He has changed his story several times, risks 12 years
Dani Alves on trial. The Brazilian footballer, former full-back for Barcelona and Juventus, has been in preventive detention since 20 January 2023 for the alleged sexual violence against a 23-year-old girl. Section 12 of the Court of the Catalan capital has reserved three days for the judgment of the player, now called upon to convince the judges of his innocence, together with the lawyers Ins Guardiola and Miraida Puente Wilson.
He was arrested after the complaint from the same victim, who accused him of sexually assaulting her in the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on the night of 30 December 2022. After preventive detention, the footballer thus faces a trial for which the prosecution is asking for 12 for him years in prison, while the Prosecutor’s Office limited it to 9, in addition to all the economic sanctions, part of which had already been paid by the accused.
The former Brazilian international appeared in the front row of the courtroom, accompanied by his mother Lucia (perhaps a non-random move, motivated by strategic reasons), wearing white shoes and shirt, light jeans, with short hair and visibly slimmer. The defense tried until the end to reach an agreement with the victim, but without obtaining the desired results. Now, over the next three days, a total of almost thirty witnesses will have to be heard, a step that could affect the outcome of the trial. The hearing sees great media anticipation in Barcelona, with almost three hundred accredited journalists. The images, even from the internal circuit, cannot be distributed, with the exception of those of the player in the dock at the start of the day.
Defense moves
The footballer’s lawyers maintain that it was not rape, but a consensual relationship. In the event of a conviction, they instead hope that their client will be able to benefit from some mitigating circumstances, such as Dani Alves’ state of intoxication that evening, and to leverage the 150 thousand euros already paid on the orders of the investigating judge as security for the compensation. However, a plea bargaining of the sentence cannot be ruled out, following the request to cancel the entire criminal proceedings. The request was made due to the continuous leak of information – many of which are false – which over the months have created a parallel popular jury that put Dani Alves in a bad light (therefore according to the defense a violation of the presumption of innocence). Then an alleged flaw in form, because the player was the last to be questioned, compared to what was initially expected.
Multiple contradictory versions
To aggravate the footballer’s position, however, there is the version of events that changed every time it was heard, especially during the first few months. At first he denied the facts, then he began to claim that the sexual intercourse was consensual. The public prosecutor instead supports the complainant’s version, according to which Dani Alves invited her and other friends to drink champagne in the private room of the nightclub, before strongly seeking a relationship with her around three in the morning, after taking her to a private bathroom of the local. Faced with the girl’s refusal and pleas, there are slaps and violence, consummated with the use of force until complete intercourse. A story first denied entirely by the player, then confirmed in some points, but with firm opposition to the inclusion of violence and the definition of rape. The most significant challenge for the judicial authorities will be to reconstruct the correct development of the events, also with the support of the many witnesses who will have to retrace the events in the courtroom.
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February 5, 2024 (modified February 5, 2024 | 4:14 pm)
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2024-02-05 14:53:27
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