Dani Alves' mother, in the center, arrives at the Barcelona Palace of Justice accompanied by her lawyer and one of her children.Enric Fontcuberta (EFE)
The last day of the trial against Dani Alves as the alleged perpetrator of the rape of a 23-year-old girl at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona began this Wednesday with the testimony of the experts who performed physical and psychological examinations on the young woman.
The forensic experts, who treated her by court order, have maintained that the girl suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, a severe illness, while the defense experts have questioned these consequences and have even questioned whether she was raped because she was not had vaginal injuries.
However, they have admitted that there does not necessarily have to be any.
Physical injuries and psychological consequences have been the subject of a heated debate in the first part of the session at the Barcelona Court.
Five experts (three forensic experts appointed by the investigating court and two experts hired by Alves's defense) have disagreed on the origin and extent of these damages.
The victim, who was 23 years old, had bruises on both knees as a result, presumably, of the violence carried out by the former soccer player inside the bathroom.
The examination revealed that he did not, however, suffer vaginal injuries as a result of penetration without consent.
“Is it essential that there be vaginal injuries for there to be rape?” asked the prosecutor.
The defense expert has said that "it is not frequent", but that the fact that there are no injuries is more typical of "consensual relationships", an extreme with which one of the forensic experts has disagreed: "It is true that the injuries are more frequent in non-consensual relationships, but a casual link cannot be established.”
The same discussion has occurred with the knee injuries: the defense expert has insisted that “no one can say 100%” how they occurred and has shown his reservations about the fact that no other injuries were found if, According to the victim, Alves was extremely violent with her in the bathroom: “It is very strange that we do not appreciate anything (...) “It makes me think that intercourse was not that traumatic.”
Once the nightclub activated the protocol against sexual assaults, the victim was transferred to the Hospital Clínic, where she was examined.
“She was tense, but she seemed like a coherent girl, who explained things as she had experienced them,” said the coroner who treated her that night.
The girl did not tell her that the aggressor “was a famous person” and she explained that “there were kisses on her neck, but then she wanted to leave [the bathroom] and she couldn't.”
She has explained that she had memory lapses ("she did not remember if she actually performed fellatio on him or not") but she was clear that she had been vaginally penetrated against her will.
THE coroner has insisted that her reaction of becoming paralyzed in the bathroom is perfectly normal (“it is a defense mechanism of the body, it cannot be controlled”), as are the feelings of shame and guilt that she showed.
That feeling “is usually associated with the condition of victim,” said another of the forensic experts.
The Prosecutor's Office requests 150,000 euros in compensation for her for the moral damages and consequences suffered.
In April 2023, during the investigation of the case, the young woman was examined again and showed “some anxiety” and “emotional fragility.”
She was also interviewed by a forensic psychologist and by a psychologist hired by Alves, who this Wednesday complained that she was only allowed to ask one question.
“There was a struggle and we argued behind closed doors.
She said that we were not going to talk about anything that had to do with the case or intimate matters.
“It was an interview aimed at absolutely superficial issues,” complained the expert, who questioned whether the victim suffered from post-traumatic stress.
“If the doctor does not indicate a diagnosis, nor treatment, nor refer her to mental health... The post-traumatic disorder is very severe, it cannot be overcome with the 0.25 of
trankimazin
that she took.”
Since Monday, Alves has been in the dock for the rape of the 23-year-old girl in the toilets of the Sutton VIP area.
The events occurred on the night of December 31, 2022. At the direction of Alves and the friend who was accompanying him, a waiter invited three young people - the victim, a friend and her cousin - to have a drink in the VIP area.
There, at table 6, they danced with Alves and the friend until the former soccer player approached the victim with sexual intentions until he invited him to cross the threshold of a door and enter the suite.
Next to the table was a sink.
The girl entered and, according to her testimony, when she wanted to leave, Alves prevented her.
Always according to the victim's version, the soccer player tried to get him to perform fellatio, he slapped her, insulted her ("say that you are my
little whore
") and finally penetrated her very forcefully against her consent, until he ejaculated.
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