Dani Alves Gets 4.5 Years In Prison For Sexual Assault

Dani Alves

Dani Alves, a former international player for Brazil, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault.

The former Barcelona player was found guilty by Catalonia's highest court of assaulting a woman in a nightclub in 2022.

Dani Alves, a former football player for Brazil, was found guilty on Thursday of sexually abusing a young woman and was given a four-year, six-month prison sentence.

This month's three-day trial culminated in a decision by a three-judge panel in a Barcelona court. Throughout the trial, Alves, 40, denied any wrongdoing. He has the right to challenge the ruling.

The victim stated that Alves had sexually assaulted her in the restroom of a posh Barcelona nightclub early on December 31, 2022, and the court found this to be true.

Alves' accuser's attorneys requested a 12-year sentence, but state prosecutors had only asked for a nine-year one. His defense requested his acquittal or, in the event that he was found guilty, a one-year sentence along with €50,000 (£43,000) in damages for the victim.

While in custody, Alves changed his defense during the investigation phase. He initially denied having had any sexual contact with her before acknowledging that he had had consensual relationships. He stated that by initially refusing to acknowledge the encounter, he was attempting to preserve his marriage. Alves's defense team concentrated on proving that he was intoxicated when he met the woman during the trial.

Alves's reputation as one of the most successful players in football is destroyed by the conviction. With prestigious teams like Barcelona, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain, Alves won numerous championships. In addition, he helped Brazil win an Olympic gold medal and two Copa Américas. In 2022, he participated in his third World Cup—the only major championship he has yet to win. He was a member of Barcelona's team from 2008 to 2016, and he made a brief return in 2022. He still lives close to the city. 

He was with the Mexican club Pumas when arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.

The Alves case was the first high- profile sex crime since Spain overhauled its legislation in 2022 to make consent, or the lack thereof, central to defining a sex crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case during the San Fermín bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.