Dani Alves acknowledges penetration in sexual assault case
Former Barça footballer gives 30-minute testimony after alleged rape in Barcelona nightclub
Dani Alves has acknowledged that he penetrated the woman accusing him of sexual assault. The former FC Barcelona player is currently in preventive detention in the Catalan capital after being accused of an alleged assault that happened on December 31, 2022.
At midday on Monday, Alves gave another testimony at his own request and told the judge that the relationship between the footballer and the accuser was totally consensual and that he first lied because he was "obsessed" with hiding the infidelity from his wife.
Alves spoke to the court for 30 minutes and answered all parties.
Monday's testimony marked the first time he gave a statement in court with his new lawyer representing him, Cristóbal Martell, who took on the case when the footballer was already in prison.
It is also the first time Alves testified before the investigating judge, as a substitute judge made the decision to keep him in preventive detention.
After the testimony, Alves' lawyers released a statement saying that the footballer argued to the judge that "there was a mutual interest and sexual tension" during the night of the events.
That night, Alves, accompanied by a cook friend named Bruno, was in the VIP area of the Sutton nightclub, and after dancing and speaking with the victim, "they saw there was chemistry, and the player proposed to her to go to a more private place and said the bathroom as it was just beside them," the statement reads.
The former FC Barcelona player is very "respectful of the relationships he has with women, and he does not move to the next steps if there is no clear sexual interest and predisposition."
"He has never had a personality against women," Alves' lawyers said.
Since the complaint was filed, Alves said he has been wondering why he is being accused of sexual assault.
His lawyers are expected to ask for a release in the upcoming days as he has been in prison since January, accused of raping a 23-year-old girl on the night of December 30 to 31 in the toilets of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona.