Ex-Barcelona defender Dani Alves acquitted of rape by Spanish court
The Catalonia High Court has overturned the football star’s conviction on appeal
In a sensational ruling, the High Court of Catalonia has overturned the sentence that condemned former FC Barcelona player Dani Alves to four years and six months in prison for the sexual assault of a young woman at the Sutton nightclub in December 2022.
Back in April, there was uproar when the Brazilian international was released pending this appeal. Just the month before, he was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of raping a 23-year-old woman in the bathroom of an upscale Barcelona venue.
While prosecutors were asking that the sentence be increased to 9 years during the appeal, the court unanimously sided with Alves’s defence team and dismissed all charges.
The ruling, which can, and very likely will, be appealed again before the Supreme Court, found the victim’s testimony to be unreliable and judged that there was “insufficient evidence” to uphold the conviction.
The appeal court said that the ruling in the original court case “contains, throughout the reasoning, a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions regarding the facts, the legal assessment and their consequences.
“The complainant's account, which should have been subjected to greater scrutiny, has not been compared with the fingerprint and biological evidence, which support the defence's argument.”
Furthermore, CCTV footage from the nightclub has reportedly thrown doubt on her version of events which “seriously compromises the reliability of her story,” the ruling added.
It concluded that the alleged victim instead “voluntarily went to the bathroom area for the purpose of being with the defendant in a more intimate space”.
Alves, who played for top clubs like Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, “is very happy” with the outcome, according to his lawyer. The travel ban imposed on the 41-year-old, along with the restraining order, has been lifted by the Catalan court.
In other news: EU wants all households to prepare a 72hr survival kit
Image: UEFA
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