Dani Alves sentenced for 4 years 6 months

Brazilian international Dani Alves has been sentenced to a jail term of four years and six months for raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

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 31 December 2022.
Alves had been accused of luring the woman to a toilet in a VIP section of the nightclub and had argued that she could have left “if she wanted to”. However, the court found that she did not consent.

In a statement, the court said there was evidence other than the victim’s testimony that proved that she had been raped.
Alves has been held in pre-trial detention since January 2023 and during the course of this month’s trial he has changed his testimony on a number of occasions.

He first denied knowing his accuser only to later claim he had met her in the toilet but that nothing had happened between them.
He then changed his version of events again, saying that they had had consensual sex. “We were both enjoying ourselves,” he alleged.