Football star Dani Alves found guilty of rape, sentenced to four and a half years in prison

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Dani Alves, one of the most successful football players of his generation, was found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub and sentenced to four years and six months in prison on Thursday.

Besides disgracing the former Brazil and Barcelona right back, the conviction was applauded in Spain as a victory for a pioneering sexual liberty law that emphasises the lack of consent of the victim as key to determining sex crimes.

A three-judge panel at the Barcelona Provincial Court convicted the 40-year-old Alves of sexual assault for the incident on December 31, 2022.

The court ordered Alves to pay 150,000 euros ($162,000) in compensation to the victim, banned him from approaching the victim's home or place of work, and from communicating with her by any means for nine years.

Alves was in the courthouse to hear the verdict and sentence, and his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, said he was “calm and collected.”

David Sáenz, a member of the victim's legal team, said, “We are satisfied because this verdict recognises what we have always known, that the victim told the truth and that she has suffered.”

The victim's lawyer, Ester García, said on Wednesday she and her client would not be present for the verdict.

The victim said Alves raped her in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub on the morning of Dec. 31, 2022. The court considered it proven that the victim did not consent to sex and there was evidence, in addition to the defendant's testimony, that she was raped.

Alves denied during the three-day trial this month that he raped the woman, testifying to the court “I am not that kind of man.”

State prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence for Alves while the lawyers representing his accuser wanted 12 years. His defence asked for his acquittal, or if found guilty a one-year sentence plus 50,000 euros compensation for the victim.

The sentence of four years and six months is near the lowest sentence for a rape conviction, which when the rape took place was penalised by four to 12 years under Spanish law. That has since been modified to six to 12 years. The court in its sentence said it considered favourably for Alves that he had “before the trial paid the court 150,000 euros to be given to the victim without any conditions attached.”

Sáenz said his legal team did not agree with the application of the extenuating circumstance, saying the money did not compensate the harm done to their client. During the trial, medical experts testified she was suffering from post-traumatic trauma.

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