Dani Alves faces 9-year jail term for raping woman in Spain

Spanish prosecutors are seeking a nine-year jail term for former Brazil defender, Dani Alves, who is accused of raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.

Prosecutors have also demanded the former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) full-back, who has been in jail in Spain since his arrest in January, pay his alleged victim 150,000 euros ($163,500) in compensation, according to a copy of his indictment seen by AFP on Thursday.

A date for his trial had not yet been set. The 40-year-old has maintained that he had consensual sex with his accuser.

“I have a really clear conscience regarding what happened that night in the bathroom of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub.

“What happened and what didn’t happen. And what didn’t happen is that I forced this woman to do anything that we did,” he told Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia in an interview published in June, his first since his arrest.

But when the story first broke – and before he was arrested – Alves in a television interview initially denied knowing the woman who filed a police complaint against him on January 2.

He said: “I was dancing and having a good time without invading anyone’s space.

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“I don’t know who this lady is. How could I do that to a woman? No.”

Alves later said he had lied at first because he was afraid his wife would leave him if he admitted he had been with another woman.

The indictment offers a detailed description of what, according to prosecutors, happened at the upscale Sutton nightclub.

After meeting at the venue, Alves invited the woman to enter a small enclosure which she says she did not know was a toilet.

Once inside, the footballer showed a “violent attitude” towards the woman, who he forced to have intercourse despite her resistance.

Under Spain’s sexual consent law passed last year, the charge of sexual assault takes in a wide array of crimes from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different possible punishments. A case of rape can carry a maximum sentence of 15 years.

At the time of the incident, Alves was on holiday in Barcelona after playing for Brazil at the World Cup in Qatar.

After his arrest, Alves was sacked by his Mexican club, Pumas UNAM.

In a highly successful career, Dani Alves won 42 trophies, including three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and two Copa Americas with Brazil.

At last year’s World Cup finals in Qatar, he became the oldest player to represent Brazil at football’s showpiece tournament.

The Star