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ARCHIVED - Brazil football star Dani Alves remanded in custody over alleged rape in Barcelona
The former Barcelona player has spent three nights in jail in Spain after being arrested on Friday January 20
Brazil football star Dani Alves has been remanded in custody without bail by a judge in Barcelona accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in a bathroom at a well-known nightclub in the city.
The former Barcelona defender was arrested and taken to court on Friday January 20 after the woman filed a formal complaint alleging she was assaulted at the Sutton Club in the Catalan capital on December 30, 2022.
The footballer, who has reportedly been sacked by Mexican side UNAM Pumas, has protested his innocence, initially claiming he "doesn't know who this lady is". He maintains he was having a good time and dancing with his friends on the night in question, but denies having touched any woman.
He has since claimed she 'pounced' on him and has asked to testify before the judge again with a revised account of what happened. He faces up to 12 years in jail if found guilty of rape.
In her statement, the woman claims Alves "forcibly" raped her and, with the results of a forensic examination carried out on the complainant at the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona, the Barcelona judge decided there is "sufficient evidence" a sexual assault took place.
He also took into account the "forceful" and "persistent" statement of the alleged victim, who testified before the judge on Friday.
A spokesperson for the investigating magistrate said: "Court of Instruction Number 15 in Barcelona has today received the footballer denounced by a woman for an alleged crime of sexual assault said to have occurred in a nightclub in Barcelona in December.
"The investigating magistrate has decided to remand him in provisional custody without bail as part of an ongoing criminal probe."
The judge considers Alves a "flight risk and a risk of evading prosecution, taking into account his economic capacity and the fact he resides abroad and has dual nationality, Brazilian and Spanish".
Image: Pumas MX
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