With the shocking testimony of the 24-year-old girl who reported having been raped by the Brazilian
Dani Alves
, the 21st section of the
Barcelona Court
began the trial this Monday in which it attempts to reconstruct what happened in the early hours of December 31, 2022. when, in the Sutton nightclub in the Catalan city, the crime was committed that could condemn the former footballer to a sentence of between
9 and 12 years in prison
.
Photo: Jordi BORRAS / POOL / AFP
In front of the four judges of the Court, the woman recounted what happened that night at the bowling alley.
She did so behind closed doors and with utmost caution to protect her identity.
The woman, since she denounced the former Barcelona player at the beginning of last year,
never contradicted her initial version
.
The judges heard the statement of the girl, who is currently 24 years old, who spoke separated from Alves by a screen, to prevent them from looking at each other, and with her voice distorted and her face pixelated for the judicial cameras that record the testimonies as a judicial procedure. routine.
However, weeks ago her name and image circulated on social networks in a "reel" that sought to show her in a festive attitude and with friends to discredit the fact that she was going through a traumatic situation after the rape complaint, as her defense lawyer points out.
“Slimy”, the brutal description of a witness who is a friend of the victim
Dani Alves' mother during the first day of the trial against the former footballer in Barcelona.
Photo: REUTERS/Albert Gea
Even Alves' mother, María Lucía Alves, echoed the video that she later deleted from her networks.
Among the six witnesses scheduled to testify this Monday were
the young woman's cousin and a friend
, who shared with her the night of December 30 and 31 at the Sutton disco in which the reported assault occurred.
They described Alves's attitude that night as “slobbery
. ”
And about the girl's reaction when she met them again, the friend said:
“She came out crying and told me: 'She hurt me a lot
. '”
And she stressed that the young woman wanted to go to her house and she did not want to file a complaint.
“They're not going to believe me
,” she repeated, always according to the testimony of her friend and her cousin, who convinced her to appear before Justice.
The former player's lawyer asked the complainant's cousin:
"Did your cousin tell you that she voluntarily entered the bathroom?
"
“Yes
,” was the answer.
Photo: Jordi BORRAS / POOL / AFP
The bathroom in the booth on the upper floor of the Sutton disco was where Alves and the young woman, who was 23 years old at the time, were
locked up for 16 minutes
.
The former Brazilian defender claimed, at first, that he had never seen the young woman in his life.
He then admitted that yes, they had crossed paths in the bathroom.
He finally admitted to having sex with her.
He said he was
"spoiled
. "
This aspect will be decisive when passing sentence.
It is the first media case to be tried with the new
"only yes means yes"
law , which was approved in April of last year and
modified the legislation on sexual crimes in Spain
.
According to current regulations, all physical contact must have the consent of both parties.
And it reinforces the concept:
that consent must be explicitly expressed
.
“I couldn't resist, I couldn't even speak”
Some details of the complaint that the young woman ratified this Monday before the Barcelona Court were leaked weeks before the trial.
When she appeared in front of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan regional police, in January of last year, the girl said that she did not previously know Dani Alves and admitted that, after the former footballer insisted that she and her friends join At the table he shared with a friend of his in the disco's booth, he got up, stood in front of a door and knocked on her.
“I went there to talk to him. At no point did I know where I was going
,” she said.
"He moved away and made a gesture as if I should go towards him, until at the end I thought: 'Talk to him and see what he wants'," he added.
And I didn't think anything else."
“He opened it and I went in, and when I went in I saw what I was getting into, I saw that it was a tiny toilet, I saw that it was very, very small, I think at that moment my shock began,” declared the girl.
Photo: D.Zorrakino/Pool Photo via AP
"Later I remember that he sat down and I started to tell him: 'I have to go, I have to go'," he reviewed.
The memory of him lifting my dress and making me sit on it.
I remember telling him: 'I can't.'
And he started telling me a lot of things.
He insisted that I had to tell him that she was his little whore and from that moment on I remember resisting.
He pulled up my dress and made me sit on it.”
This is how the testimony that the young woman gave months ago continues: “He hurt my knee and I was left with a wound... He tried to get me to perform fellatio on him.
I kept moving away from him all the time, until he grabbed me by the neck and started slapping me.”
“He wanted to perform oral sex on me, I remember that at that moment I got even more nervous.
Then there I only remember that he started to penetrate me very hard, very, very hard.
There he just felt like he was making me faint, he couldn't resist me, he couldn't even speak,” the young woman said at the time.
Alves, who has been in preventive detention since January 20, 2023, will not open his mouth until Wednesday, the final day of the trial.
This Monday, his lawyer proposed that the nullity of the judicial process be declared due to the “parallel trial” that his client suffered in the media.
She also argued that Alves suffered a “violation of rights.”
The Court did not give rise to Dani Alves' defense attempt although
it did allow his testimony to close the third day of hearings
.
So, the former player will be the last to testify, after the 28 witnesses who will go through the Barcelona Court in these three days.