The verdict was reserved at the end of the trial. The accused remains in preventive detention. He returned this Wednesday evening to the Brians 2 prison center.
Former Barça and PSG star Dani Alves denied on Wednesday, on the last day of his trial, having raped a young woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, claiming that the sexual relations were consensual.
Alves, against whom the prosecution requested nine years in prison, answered his lawyer’s questions during a testimony of around fifteen minutes during which he let his emotion show, starting to cry towards the end. Refuting any form of violence against the complainant, the former Brazilian international also defended himself by affirming that the complainant had not “at no time (…) said anything” to go away.
“Not a violent man”
“If she wanted to leave, she could leave at any time, she didn’t have to be there”said the former PSG player, who again affirmed that he was not “not a violent man”. The verdict, which will be deliberated at the end of the trial, will probably not be known for several weeks.
The 40-year-old ex-footballer is accused of raping a young woman in the toilets of a VIP area of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, on the night of December 30 to 31, 2022. In pre-trial detention for a little over a year, he has contested the facts since the start of the case. But his defense was weakened by its numerous version changes.
After claiming in a video at the beginning of January 2023 that he had never met the complainant, he justified his lie by explaining that he wanted to protect his marriage, before ending up admitting a sexual relationship with the complainant, according to him, consensual. The prosecution is demanding nine years in prison for the footballer, as well as payment of 150,000 euros to the young woman and 10 years of supervised release after his release from prison.
According to the indictment, Alves, who was in Barcelona at the time after playing at the World Cup in Qatar, was at the nightclub with a friend. After offering champagne to the complainant, her cousin and a friend, he allegedly invited her to dance, then to accompany him to an adjoining room with a toilet. Alves would then have had a “violent attitude” towards the young woman, whom he allegedly forced to have sexual relations, according to the prosecution, which describes a “situation of anxiety and terror” for the young woman.
“Much trouble”
A version corroborated Monday by the friend and cousin of the complainant. She “crying desperately” and wanted to leave the nightclub saying that Alves had made him “much trouble”, said her friend. According to the cousin, the young woman goes out “barely from home” since the attack and takes antidepressants. For her part, the complainant testified Monday at house clos in order to protect his identity, sheltered behind a screen to avoid any visual contact with Alves. His voice had been altered and his face pixelated on the recording, intended for the exclusive use of judges, in case it leaked.
On Wednesday, a psychologist who saw the victim months after the events confirmed that she presented post-traumatic syndrome symptoms. The friend who accompanied Alves during this evening, as well as the player’s wife, had, for their part, insisted on Tuesday on the player’s state of intoxication. Il “smelled of alcohol” et “When he entered the room, he bumped into several pieces of furniture and collapsed on the bed” before falling asleep, Joana Sanz said.
One of the most successful footballers in historyDani Alves experienced the most glorious period of his career at Barça, between 2008 and 2016, where he won 23 trophies. The player, who also played for Sevilla (Spain), Juventus Turin (Italy) and Paris Saint-Germain, was playing for the Mexican club Pumas at the time of his incarceration. This club, with which he was under contract until the end of last season, then immediately dismissed him.
At the end of the debates, the accused’s defense requested his release. A request which was rejected by the prosecution. The court will now have to decide whether the Brazilian is released. We do not know the date of this decision, nor that of the deliberation of the judgment. This Wednesday evening, Dani Alves left handcuffed for Brians prison.
2024-02-07 21:02:58
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