Dani Alves testified in the rape trial: the moment he collapsed and his account of the events in the bowling alley bathroom

“When she touched me, I saw there was sexual attraction and I told her let’s go to the bathroom.”assured the former footballer Daniele Alves this Wednesday before the court that is trying him for the alleged sexual assault that a 24-year-old girl reported to him for what happened in the early hours of January 31, 2022 and for which he has been in prison for more than a year.

With tears in his eyes, the Brazilian insisted yes consensual sex with her. And that she had drunk too much that night. It was a day when, moreover, there were skills that could favor him.

The accusation against the former Barça defender is of a rape he committed in the early hours of December 31, 2022 in a stand of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona.

In court, Alves admitted that the sexual relationship he had with the girl was consensual and without any type of violence.

Guided by questions from his defense lawyer, Inés Guardiola, Alves retraced what his night of December 30, 2022 was like and what happened at the Sutton nightclub.

He stated that he arrived at the club at 2.30 in the morning and that the bottle of Japanese whiskey seen in the bowling alley videos had been brought from the restaurant where he had dinner with friends. He said they had also drunk five bottles of wine.

Alves said that, as a Sutton customer, he was offered booth 6, which is the one with a small bathroom next to the table.

He said the first two girls came to dance with him and his friend. And then three others, including the young woman who reported him.

–At all.

–Did you stop him from leaving? Do I slap her?

–Never. I’m not that kind of man. At all.

–Did he ever tell you he didn’t want to have sex with you?

–At no point did he say anything to me.

Due to the complaint filed by the young woman last year, Alves has been in pre-trial detention since January 20, 2023.

His first release from prison in more than a year occurred on Monday 5 February: when he was transferred to the Catalan capital to attend the oral trial which continues, until this Wednesday, at the Barcelona court.

If the court finds him guilty, Alves could spend 9 to 12 years in prison.

The defense asks for acquittal

The former footballer’s defense asked for acquittal. Or that he is deemed to have drunk too much that night and is then convicted to one year of imprisonment and 50 thousand euros of civil liability for what happened. The Prosecutor’s Office and the lawyer of the young woman who reported the rape are asking for compensation of 150 thousand euros.

In almost twelve months of imprisonment, the 40-year-old Brazilian had already defended himself from the accusation. Even if not always with the same topics.

At first he denied everything. She did it in a video that she sent to a television broadcast from Mexico, where she had a contract with the Pumas club. He even denied having crossed paths with the girl, but the bowling alley cameras caught him walking towards him.

Then, when preventive detention became his daily life and his club, Pumas de México, had already terminated his contract, he admitted the meeting, albeit with nuance. He admitted having had sexual relations with the young woman, then 23 years old, by mutual agreement.

“He provided all this battery of versions because he considered himself unpunished”The prosecutor said this Wednesday, Elizabeth Jimenez.

“The victim said he agreed to go to that place (the bathroom in the cabin) but he didn’t know what it was. She insisted that she wanted to get out of there. She felt guilty”the prosecutor added.

Regarding the young woman’s testimony, Jiménez defines it like this “an absolutely believable story”.

“He was very brave. She is a very strong woman,” concluded the prosecutor.

The public prosecution requests “the maximum sentence”

Estere Garciathe lawyer of the girl who reported the rape insisted on asking for “the maximum sentence” for Alves which, in this type of crime, is 12 years.

He underlines that his client declared from the beginning that she wanted to get out of the bathroom where the former player had locked himself with her. And it was supported by the new “only yes is yes” law which specifies that, for there to be no crime, consent is essential in every relationship between two people.

When will the sentence be issued?

The court has now done so twenty days issue a sentence.

The congestion caused by the tractor of farmers angry at the little paid for their crops, which flooded the streets of Barcelona this Wednesday, was deflating when Alves was returned to the Brians 2 penitentiary center – 40 minutes from Barcelona – , where he slept for some time, almost 400 nights.

Alves’ mother, Maria Lucia, arrived by taxi at the court an hour before the hearing. Your lawyer, Graciele Queirozdenied Clarion that among the witnesses called to testify at the trial was the footballer’s mother.

“It was a confusion. The mother who may have testified was the complainant’s. But both parties, defense and prosecution, excluded him” Queiroz clarified.

Alves’ mother, his brother and the family lawyer will return to Brazil this Wednesday.

Outside, in front of the Court of Barcelona, ​​​​an eclectic building from the late nineteenth century, tourists photographed themselves in front of the Arc de Triomphe, one of the few in the world that does not celebrate war triumphs but was built as the entrance to the International Fair of 1888.