- By Vanessa Buschschlüter
- BBC News
Dani Alves was first arrested in January 2023 and has been on remand since then
A court in Spain has found former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.
He has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison.
The 40-year-old, who is one of the most decorated footballers in history, had denied sexually assaulting the woman in the early hours of December 31, 2022.
His lawyer had asked for his acquittal and said he would appeal the verdict.
A lawyer for the victim welcomed the verdict, saying it “recognizes what we’ve always known: the truth [as told] from the victim and the sufferings that have occurred”.
In addition to sentencing Alves to four and a half years in prison, the court said he would have to face a further five years of probation.
The prosecution had asked for a nine-year prison sentence. In Spain, a rape claim is investigated under the general charge of sexual assault, and convictions can lead to prison terms of four to 15 years.
According to Spanish media, the court took into account Alves’ decision to pay the victim 150,000 euros (£128,500) in compensation regardless of the outcome of the trial when deciding on his jail term.
The court, however, did not accept the argument put forward by his lawyers that he should be given a lighter sentence because he was drunk.
His wife Joana Sanz, 31, said he had appeared very drunk when he returned to their home in Barcelona on the night of the rape and crashed into furniture before collapsing in bed.
But the court argued that drinking had not affected his behaviour.
Prosecutors said Alves and his friend had bought champagne for three young women before luring one of them to a VIP area of the nightclub with a toilet she didn’t know about.
They alleged that at this point he became violent, forcing the woman to have sex despite her repeated pleas to leave.
Alves had claimed she could have left “if she wanted to”. However, the court found that he did not consent.
Spanish legislation has recently changed to enshrine the importance of consent according to the so-called “Only yes is yes” principle.
In a statement, the court said there was evidence other than the victim’s testimony that proved she had been raped.
She reported that Alves “abruptly grabbed the complainant” and threw her to the ground. He then raped her while preventing her from moving as “the complainant said no and wanted to leave,” it added.
The woman said the rape had left her in “agony and terror” and one of her friends who was with her on the night described how the 23-year-old had cried “uncontrollably” after leaving the bathroom.
Alves has been in custody since January 2023 and has changed his testimony on several occasions.
He initially denied knowing his accuser only to later claim that he had met her in the toilet but that nothing had happened between them.
He then changed his version of events again, saying they had had consensual sex. “We were both having fun,” he claimed.
Alves played more than 400 times for Barcelona, winning six league titles and three Champions Leagues in 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 caps.