Daniel Alves maintains that a young man followed him to the bathroom and had consensual sex

O player Daniel Alves maintained, in his testimony this Wednesday (7), that he had consensual sex with the young woman who accuses him of rape. According to him, the woman deliberately followed him to the bathroom of the Sutton nightclub, in Barcelona, ​​at his suggestion, on the night of December 30, 2022.

Alves has been in prison since January 20, 2023 and since last Monday (5) he faces his trial at the Barcelona Audience, a palace of Justice in the center of the Catalan capital. This Wednesday is the last day of the trial, but the sentence should take a few days to come out.

His testimony was carried out answering questions from his lawyer, Inés Guardiola. Before, on this third day of the trial, forensic medical experts and psychologists spoke. Then there were final deliberations by the prosecutor, the prosecution lawyer and, finally, the defense lawyer.

Alves began by describing December 30, 2022. “I was with [três] friends to eat. We arrived at the restaurant at 2:30 pm and stayed until 1 am. We drank five bottles of wine, one of whiskey, a few others. I drank two bottles of wine and a few glasses of whiskey”, began Alves.

“When we left there, we went to the [bar] Nuba, we spent time having a round of gin and tonics. When we left there, we took the car from the parking lot. Bruno [Brasil] I was driving because I had drunk too much and couldn’t drive.”

“After Nuba, we went to Sutton with Bruno. We arrived at around 2:30 in the morning”, continued Alves. “I’m a frequent customer at Sutton and I always have this table 6 available so I don’t have to walk across the club to go.”

“We arrived at the place, started drinking and dancing a little with Bruno. First, two girls came and danced for a while. Then, they invited the three girls, the complainant and her friends”, he added.

“They weren’t bothered. They arrived, started to greet us. A conversation started. I’m a person who approaches easily, but with respect. I think they knew who I was,” said the player.

“We were dancing, interacting. We were already closer, she started dancing closer to me, rubbing her parts on mine. She put her hand back and started touching my parts.”

“I didn’t have to insist that she go to the bathroom. She said yes. I said I would go first and waited a while, thinking that she wouldn’t go, that she didn’t want to. But when I opened the door, I practically bumped into her.”

“She knelt in front of me and started giving me oral sex. I dropped my pants and sat on the toilet. The fellatio was practically the entire sexual intercourse. Then she sat in front of my legs. When I went to ejaculate, I ejaculated outside of her sex.”

“At no point did she tell me she didn’t want anything. I didn’t slap her or throw her on the floor. I’m not a violent man. She didn’t tell me she didn’t want to have sex.”

“When we left the club, I had drunk too much. My wife was sleeping in bed. That’s what I stated in the second statement. In the first, I said there was only oral sex because I thought my wife could forgive me.”

At that moment, Alves started to cry. “I received news that they were accusing me of rape in the press. My world collapsed,” he concluded.

Prosecution requests 12-year sentence for Dani Alves

After Alves, it was the turn of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to present its conclusions on the case. The institution asks that Alves receive a nine-year sentence. The prosecution requests the maximum sentence of 12 years, and the defense requests acquittal.

For prosecutor Elizabeth Jiménez, the young woman’s testimony, given on the first day of the trial, was completely “credible”. She recalled that the victim actually went to the bathroom voluntarily, but she did not know that there was a bathroom there. “She has broken down several times, she has been a very brave woman,” she said.

“Alves picked her up and put her mouth close to his penis. She said he entered her from behind and ejaculated inside and out. He slapped her in the face when she was on the floor. He said ‘tell me you She’s my little whore.”

Finally, the prosecutor criticized Alves’ current version, that he had drunk a lot that day. “Now he adds that he was drunk. That he was very drunk that night. There is not a single piece of evidence that confirms what was drunk. It is completely impossible to say how much he drank,” she concluded.

In Spain, alcohol can be considered a mitigating factor. Hence the defense strategy, on the second day of the trial, of reinforcing this aspect.

This was followed by the prosecution lawyer, Ester García, who tried to overturn the possibility of reducing the sentence for substance use. “This part calls for the maximum sentence,” she said.

“The defendant may have been the one who drank the most. But no one had any abnormal behavior. The expert herself stated that he has a [a nível cognitivo]. He had the ability to distinguish between what was good and what was bad. The mitigating factor [pelo uso de álcool] is not applicable here”, he argued.

Defense lawyer Inés Guardiola spoke last, highlighting that “the defendant’s statements were corroborated”, as opposed to the “complainant’s partial and evasive speech”.

IVAN FINOTTI – MADRID, SPAIN