The defense of Dani Alves assured on Thursday, during a hearing to decide if he continues in preventive detention, that the Brazilian soccer player had "consensual sex" with the woman who accuses him of rape in a nightclub in Barcelona, Spain, on the 30th December 2022.
The athlete's lawyer, Cristóbal Martell, admitted that there was "vaginal penetration" after the biological tests carried out on the 23-year-old victim revealed last week that the remains of semen found in the woman correspond to Alves' DNA.
Brazilian player Dani Alves during a training session at the Qatar World Cup on December 8, 2022. Alexander Hassenstein / Getty Images
The lawyer, who requested Alves' probation, insisted that the sexual relations were consensual, that the woman did not suffer injuries compatible with a rape and that moments before the alleged events occurred, she was captured by the local security cameras dancing .
The Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecution requested again during the hearing that the Brazilian remain in preventive detention without bail, where he has remained since January 20, alleging a high risk of flight and the evidence that incriminates him.
[Dani Alves once again changes his version of the alleged rape. The woman who accuses him waives compensation]
"Releasing him would mean an attack on the psychological integrity of my client. For him to be released while she is locked up, the administration of justice cannot allow it," stressed the young woman's lawyer, Ester García López, according to the newspaper El País.
The 39-year-old player has changed his version three times before the judge handling the case.
In the last one, he said that the victim performed fellatio on him in the bathrooms of the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub.
He initially assured him that he did not know the woman who accuses him.
This is known about the alleged sexual victim of Dani Alves (and the footballer's contradictions before the police)
Jan 23, 202302:24
The decision on whether Alves is still in jail will possibly be known next week, according to sources quoted by Spanish media.
The victim, whose identity has not been disclosed, has renounced receiving compensation if the Brazilian is convicted.
According to the provisional court ruling, advanced by
El Periódico de Catalunya,
the woman arrived at the disco at 2 in the morning with a friend and her cousin.
There they met some Mexicans who invited them to go up to the reserved area of the premises.
Alves and a friend of hers invited her to her table, and she didn't recognize him until the Mexicans told her who she was.
[“The Pillowcase Rapist” is found guilty of a crime committed four decades ago]
The soccer player, according to the woman's account to the authorities, began to harass her: “I was disgusted.
From behind he took my hand, put it on her penis and I took it off, ”he explained.
Then he led her to a bathroom, where he violently raped her, according to her version.
The woman came out crying, she explained to a nightclub doorman what had happened and he took her to those responsible for the establishment, who notified the police.
From there she was taken by ambulance to a hospital to be examined.
With information from El País,
La Vanguardia
and El Periódico de Catalunya
