The trial of footballer Dani Alves, accused of sexually assaulting a young woman at the Sutton nightclub, now awaits sentencing after coming to an end in a Barcelona Court on Wednesday.
The former Brazilian International, who made almost 250 appearances for Barcelona, looked broken as his defence tried to provide mitigating circumstances to reduce the sentence, while the player in court that any sex he had with the victim was purely consensual.
The complainant, however, claimed that the footballer attacked her in the toilets of the Barcelona nightclub, something she has maintained since December 30, 2022, when the offence is alleged to have occurred.
Alves’ lawyer, Inés Guardiola, meanwhile, is pursuing mitigating circumstances of drunkenness to reduce the sentence, but without having a breathalyser test to prove it, has tried to show it with the testimony of his wife and the friends who had dinner with the footballer.
Following Wednesday’s conclusion, while Alves remains in custody, the court will now have 20 days to decide and issue a sentence. The Prosecutor’s Office requests a sentence of nine years in prison for the Brazilian player, which the private prosecution wants extended to 12 years.
The defence, meanwhile, has proposed his acquittal or, as an alternative, a subsidiary sentence of one year in prison for a crime of sexual assault, the result of applying the defence of drunkenness.
