Understand the accusation, defense and outcome of the Cuca case – 01/04/2024 – Sports

The accusation of rape against a minor in 1987 follows the career of coach Alexi Stival, known as Cuca, but it was only in 2023 that the issue took on a greater dimension, generating intense debate about machismo in football and canceling the coach.

Such as Sheet revealed on the 3rd, the Swiss Court, where the case took place, annulled the sentence that had convicted Cuca in 1989. The defense had requested a new trial, with which the Bern judge agreed, but the Public Prosecutor’s assessment that the prescription of penalties would make the work harmless, the process was terminated without an assessment of merit.

Below is a summary of what happened.

THE BEGINNING

Grêmio went to play in a tournament called the Phillips Cup in Bern (Switzerland) at the end of July 1987. Coached by Luiz Felipe Scolari, the team beat Benfica 2-1 on the 29th.

The following day, at night, the police went to the Hotel Metropole in Bern, where the team was, and arrested the players Alex Stival (Cuca), Henrique Etges, Fernando Castoldi and Eduardo Hamester.

THE ACCUSATION

According to judge Jürg Blaser, they had committed a sexual act under coercion with 13-year-old Sandra Pfäffli, daughter of a hotel employee. The girl told police that she went to the players’ room with two friends to ask for autographs, shirts and pennants, but ended up being abused when they left the place.

Grêmio initially stated that she was only there to ask for gifts, but Henrique and Eduardo confessed to having consensual sex with Sandra. Fernando and Cuca denied participation from the beginning.

To the Swiss newspaper Blick, Sandra said that three players immobilized her and one raped her, who according to her could or could not have been Cuca. In her statements, she did not identify him when she saw photos. To “Jornal dos Sports”, Cuca said that she did not look her age and that she had gone up to have sex with one of her colleagues, who she did not name.

THE PRISON

The players were taken to separate prisons and ended up being released after a month, after the initial investigation of the process, and taken to Brazil by lawyer Luiz Carlos Pereira Silveira Martins, known as Cacalo, Grêmio’s legal deputy at the time. They paid bail of US$1,500 each (R$20,000 today, in values ​​adjusted for American inflation).

THE CONDEMNATION

The process continued its course and, in 1989, Cuca, Henrique and Eduardo were sentenced to 15 months in prison and a fine of US$8,000 (R$106,000 today). They were charged with “fornication with children” and “coercion”, but were not charged with violence, so the prosecution wanted a 10-year sentence. Fernando, on the other hand, received 3 months and a fine of US$4,000 (R$53,000 today) as an accomplice, for having remained, according to the judge, monitoring the bedroom door.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE VICTIM?

Sandra’s lawyer in the case, Willi Egloff, told UOL that the girl later tried to kill herself and suffered depression. At the time of the incident, police said that she did not appear shaken in her statements and that she asked for permission to go to the Phillips Cup final between Grêmio and Swiss side Neuchatel Xamax, won by the Gauchos the day after her arrest.

In 2023, when the case was reopened, the court discovered that Sandra had already died years before. An heir of hers was located, but he did not want to get involved in the case.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLAYERS?

The players did not return to Switzerland to defend themselves and never served the sentences they prescribed — in 1997 or 2004, depending on the legal interpretation. On the day of the trial, August 15, 1989, only Fernando had a lawyer present — Cacalo said he was present, but this is not recorded in the records.

WHAT HAPPENED TO CUCA?

The players continued their careers until they retired. Cuca played in Spain, for Palmeiras and Internacional. As a coach, he was even more successful, winning the 2013 Copa Libertadores with Atlético-MG.

HAS THE CASE DISAPPEARED?

The accusation was recalled occasionally, but the case returned with full force when Corinthians management announced him to coach the team on April 21, 2023. With intense protests from social media and the club’s women’s team, he left his position after two games, on April 26th.

WHAT DOES CUCA CLAIM?

Cuca always said he was innocent. An initial version was that he had a “vague memory” of what happened and that he had been tried in absentia. In his version, the room was double and L-shaped, and he didn’t see what his colleagues did to the girl. At the time, however, he told the newspaper Zero Hora that everyone “should pay”, regardless of what they had done. Since leaving Corinthians, Cuca has lost sponsors and remained without a job.

WHAT ABOUT THE SEMEN ISSUE?

The website Globoesporte.com revealed in May 2023 that an excerpt from the process in Bern mentioned that there was a report proving that there was Cuca’s semen in Sandra’s body. The version was corroborated by Egloff, who also said that the girl had recognized him as a rapist, contrary to what the technician claimed and what the testimonies indicated — as the portal UOL published in 2021, there was no record of Cuca’s recognition by the victim in the cars. The technician agreed to do a new DNA test, but the case was not reopened.

WHAT DID CUCA DO?

After all the confusion and Cuca’s departure from Corinthians, his defense asked for the case to be reopened and asked for a new trial, claiming that he had been convicted in absentia and could be acquitted. This allegation was accepted on November 22.

As the Public Prosecutor’s Office considered the case to be time-barred, on December 28 the Court extinguished the sentence and the process without a reassessment of the facts themselves. The judge in the case, Bettina Bochsler, ordered state compensation for Cuca equivalent to R$55,000.

WAS CUCA TRIAL IN REVEAL?

Yes. Lawyer Peter Stauffel, appointed by Grêmio to defend Cuca, Henrique and Eduardo, left the case a year before the trial. At the time, Swiss criminal law allowed this, and the case was guided by the prosecution. This changed in the 2000s, retroactively in favor of the defendant. The trio was tried without a defender. Fernando, in turn, had his own lawyer present. Cacalo said he was present, but this was not officially recorded.

WAS CUCA INNOCENT?

No. His defense, however, brought together new elements to maintain that he did not rape Sandra, but the Court focused only on the irregularity of the trial and the assessment of its statute of limitations.