Former Barcelona and Brazil legend Dani Alves could potentially face a nine-year prison sentence if convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Spain, according to Sports Mail. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking this sentence along with £130,000 in damages and 10 years of probation as the case advances to the trial stage in Spain.
Alves, 40, who was arrested on January 20 and has been held in a prison outside Barcelona, denies any wrongdoing and insists that the encounter was consensual. The former Sevilla, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain defender changed his testimony on four occasions, leading to his trial being ordered earlier this month.
Despite his denial, Alves was denied bail in January, with judges deeming him a flight risk. At the time of the alleged incident on December 30 in the bathroom of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, Alves was playing for the Mexican club UNAM. Following his arrest, UNAM terminated his contract.
Get Instantly Update By: Joining Our Whatapps and Telegram Channel
In a previous statement, Alves asserted, ‘It will be proven that I am not guilty and it was a consensual relationship. It would never cross my mind to impose a sexual act on anyone.’
His wife, model Joana Sanz, seemed to confirm their separation in a social media post dated March 15. In a handwritten letter, she expressed that ‘it will take years to erase from my memory his way of looking at me’ and declared herself a ‘strong woman moving on to the next stage of her life.’