The 23-year-old girl allegedly raped by Dani Alves at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona expressed two great fears after the sexual assault: that her name would come to light and that, given the public relevance of the character, no one would believe her.
Reality has confirmed only the first of those fears: her full name and her image have circulated on social networks in an attempt by the footballer's entourage (including her mother) to discredit her.
The second, however, has vanished: from the beginning the young woman convinced the Mossos d'Esquadra investigators, but also the judge and the prosecutor in the case, that she was telling the truth, which has led to Alves not only to the dock (if there is no last-minute agreement, the trial starts this Monday), but also to having to wait for a sentence in prison.
"I'm not going to report it, because... who is going to believe me?" the girl expressed, spontaneously and between tears, to the person in charge of the nightclub and to an access controller who had seen her crying in the hallway, next to her cousin and a friend, ready to leave the club.
It was after 4:00 on December 31, 2022 and, just at that moment, Alves passed by her and, without a greeting or a gesture, left Sutton surrounded by the room's security personnel.
The young woman had not given the footballer's name at that time, which would have forced her, according to the protocol for sexual assaults, to detain him until the arrival of the police.
The alleged sexual assault had occurred minutes before in the suite
,
a room with key access that consists of a sofa, television and sink and can only be used by clients who reserve table number 6 in the VIP area.
That night was occupied by Dani Alves, who went to Sutton (a venue where he had been a regular customer since 2008) accompanied by a Brazilian friend.
The former Barça footballer saw three girls on the court and asked a waiter to encourage them to come to his table to buy them a drink.
The group was dancing, Alves approached the girl with sexual intentions and motioned for her to enter the
suite
.
There are no images of what happened in the bathroom, but there are two versions, although in reality there are six: one from the young woman (who has maintained from the beginning that she was raped) and five from Alves, who talks about consensual sex.
The judicial process against Dani Alves is, as in many cases of sexual assault in which there is no conclusive material evidence, but only indications, a question of credibility.
And here the victim (waiting for what the sentence says) has clearly prevailed despite her initial fear, shared with many other victims, of not being believed.
Vicente L. is the access controller who, after 2:00, let the victim and her two companions through the door of Sutton, and also the one who, two hours later, found her crying.
“What, lovesickness?
I don't know why you hang out with those people, if you already know what they are like."
But it wasn't that.
The girl had told her cousin that Alves had done her “a lot of harm” in the bathroom and had ejaculated inside her without her consent.
When she saw the scene, Robert Massanet, Sutton's director, figured something was wrong.
The victim told her that she wanted to leave, but they all took her to an office so that she could calm down and explain herself.
It was not easy for her to tell what happened.
The person in charge of the room, Rafael Lledó, asked her if she wanted to file a complaint.
She said no: “I'm not going to report it, because who is going to believe me?”
Lledó, however, activated the protocol and called the Mossos.
One of the police officers who arrived in Sutton mistakenly activated the camera he had with him during the interview with the girl.
What he said there was, basically, what he also repeated in court: he said that he had voluntarily entered the bathroom (where they remained for 16 minutes in total), but that he then wanted to leave and then Alves closed the latch.
According to her version, the former soccer player tried to force her to perform fellatio, he slapped her, demanded that she tell him “I'm your little whore” and, after turning her around in the tiny space of the sink, he penetrated her vaginally “very hard” and without her consent until who ejaculated
In front of the patrol, the young woman was distressed and she reiterated to the agents that she was not going to report it, that no one would believe her, among other things, because the surveillance cameras would show that she voluntarily entered the bathroom.
That circumstance, however, has not dented her credibility about what happened after her.
The young woman was transferred to the Hospital Clínic, where she was examined, and testified more extensively on January 3 before the Mossos, who in addition to listening to her, evaluated her “emotional state.”
She arrived late at the police station because news had begun to appear about the sexual assault attributed to Alves and she suffered a panic attack.
In that statement, she showed “feelings of helplessness, incomprehension, anger and paranoia” at “the lies on social networks,” and true “terror” at the possibility that her name would come to light.
She once again expressed her doubts about filing the complaint with the same phrase: “No one will believe me.”
January 20, 2023 was the key day in the Alves case.
That day, the Brazilian player was arrested and the victim and aggressor appeared before the investigating judge, Anna Marín.
From that first struggle over the story, the victim emerged victorious, at least in the eyes of the prosecutor and the magistrate.
Her statement was “clear, firm, forceful, credible, coherent and persistent,” according to the judge's order, who, on the contrary, highlighted the “three or four versions” offered by Alves as evidence was presented to her. .
He first said that they only talked and danced, but that nothing sexual happened between them nor did he invite him into the
suite
.
Seeing that the images contradicted him and that traces of semen were found in the sink, he went on to say that the girl entered the bathroom and stayed next to him while he relieved himself.
But when they told him that semen had been found on the victim, he changed his story again and alleged that she “pounced on him” and performed fellatio on him.
“Manifest contradictions”
Given Alves' "manifest contradictions" and the risk that he would flee, that same day, the judge sent him to provisional prison, a situation that his defenses (he has changed lawyers three times) have not been able to reverse. .
Since last April, when he declared voluntarily to obtain provisional freedom, Alves maintains that there was penetration, but that it was consensual (he had not said it before, he explained, so that his wife, the model Joana Sanz, would not find out about the incident. infidelity).
In his most recent defense brief, presented a few weeks ago, he told the court that if he does not believe him, at least he should apply the mitigating circumstance of drunkenness, since that night he had been drinking and did not know what he was doing.
The Prosecutor's Office requests nine years in prison for Alves (a request that the victim raises to 12) and compensation of 150,000 euros.
At first, the victim had waived “any financial compensation,” as stated by the judge in the prison order, because her concern was that justice be done.
She later changed her mind (something to which he has the right) because she was not aware at the time of the consequences that the criminal process was going to have on her, such as the psychological consequences or the fact that he is still on sick leave.
The dissemination of her personal data has been the last straw.
And that, in that prison order from more than a year ago, the judge already indicated that it was “necessary to protect the identity of the victim” and warned of criminal liability to anyone who did not do so.
A few weeks ago, Alves's entourage released a video montage that attempts to erode the victim's credibility by showing her in a party context with friends.
One of the people who published that video was Alves's mother.
The investigating court number 21 of Barcelona has opened a case on this matter.
The former Barça player has also denounced that he has been the victim of a parallel trial, despite the fact that he himself has exposed himself publicly.
Last June, she offered an interview to
La Vanguardia
in which she questioned the victim ("what happened and did not happen in there, only she and I know") and did not ask for forgiveness, but rather offered it to her: " I forgive her.
I still don't know why she has done all this, but I forgive her.”
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