São Paulo, Brazil – Right-back Daniel Alves was sentenced this Thursday to 4 years and 6 months in prison for rape in Barcelona, Spain. The player has been in prison since January 20, 2023 on charges of raping a young woman in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.
In the 61-page sentence, judge Isabel Delgado said that it was proven that the Brazilian attacked and abused the woman. But the sentence was far from the 9 years in prison requested by the Spanish Prosecutor’s Office and even further from the 12 years requested by the victim’s defense.
The court applied to the player a mitigating circumstance of compensation for the damage by considering that “before the trial, the defense deposited into the court’s account the sum of 150,000 euros to be given to the victim regardless of the outcome of the trial, and this fact expresses a reparative will”.
The money was donated by striker Neymar, who is a good friend of Daniel Alves, and ended up being decisive in determining the sentence. In addition to the prison time, the judge ordered that Daniel Alves, after serving his sentence, have supervised release for five years, stay away from the victim for nine years and pay compensation of 150,000 euros.
According to the judge, it was proven that “the accused suddenly grabbed the victim, knocked her to the ground and, preventing her from moving, penetrated her vaginally, despite the complainant saying no and that she wanted to leave.” “This constitutes the absence of consent, the use of violence and carnal access,” says the sentence.
The conviction was announced two weeks after the end of the trial, which lasted three days and had 28 witnesses. During his interrogation, Daniel Alves cried and denied having raped the young woman. He said he was drunk and that the sexual relationship would have been consensual. This was the fourth different version presented by the player.
In early 2023, after the case became public, he said he didn’t even know the victim. Days later, in his first statement to the police, Alves said that he entered the nightclub’s bathroom with the victim, but denied any relationship with her. In the second statement, after his arrest, he said that the woman performed oral sex on him, but consensually.
In April 2023, in front of judge Isabel Delgado, the athlete confirmed that he had consensual sexual intercourse with penetration, because at that point, forensic examinations had found the player’s semen in the victim. At his trial, Alves claimed to have drunk a lot that night, but maintained the version that the sexual relationship was consensual.
But the sentence highlights that the fact that the player had been drinking is not mitigating the case, which means it does not serve to minimize the penalty. The sentence also highlights that, unlike Daniel Alves, the victim always maintained the same version of the facts, “coherent and especially persistent”. The woman’s identity was not revealed.
The player’s lawyers has already informed that they will appeal the decision, but, in the meantime, Daniel Alves will remain in prison.
