The hearing of the appeal against the provisional prison of Dani Alves. It was this Thursday, February 16. The Prosecutor’s Office and the private prosecution have asked to keep the footballer in prison for alleged sexual assault on a 23-year-old girl at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona. They appeal to the risk of her escaping and to the evidence that the investigation has found against him. His defense has questioned the evidence that points to it, legal sources have explained.
Alves has been in provisional prison without bail since January 20, and his lawyer, Cristóbal Martell, asked to release him with other security measures to guarantee that he will not escape, such as handing over his passport and wearing a geolocation bracelet. However, the prosecutor has assessed that there is a “serious flight risk”. He has little roots in Spain and his economic capacity would allow him to escape.
Section 3 of the Barcelona Court will resolve the appeal that they have addressed this Thursday in an order: it does not have a specific deadline to answer, but since it is a case with a prisoner, it will foreseeably do so soon.
At the hearing, there was discussion about whether these measures would be enough to prevent a possible escape, but the parties have also argued about the evidence that the investigation has gathered so far, such as the player’s traces and DNA remains.
The investigation has verified that there were traces of DNA from Alves in the complainant’s vagina, which is contradictory to the latest version of what happened given by the player, and his defense has clung to the absence of vaginal lesions to maintain that there was no It was not a sexual assault but consensual sex.
Alves’ defense has relied, as it did in his appeal, on the nightclub’s security images, which according to him contradict the complainant’s version, and has ensured that the girl knew that the room where the assault allegedly occurred was a bathroom, despite the fact that she has stated that she entered thinking that it was a continuation of the private room where she was. Also in reference to the camera recordings, the private prosecution has questioned that, when leaving Sutton, the player saw the victim crying and did not say anything to him.
The prosecutor, for her part, has “exposed to the Chamber the multiple existing evidence that corroborates” the victim’s version, the Prosecutor’s Office has detailed in a statement after the hearing.
The details of the certificate
This view has coincided with the details of the Mossos report, to which the Sonsoles Ónega program has had access and which are now coming to light. “Sexual assault at Sutton nightclub. Call from manager, reports that a girl says she has been sexually harassed; there has been physical contact. Both parties are at the scene. They call an ambulance just in case.” It is the warning message that the Mossos picked up and that was sent from the nightclub at dawn on December 31, according to what they say in And now Sonsoles. The call took place before 5:00 in the morning and after 5:10 the agents were already in the room. The young woman was transferred to the Hospital Clinic.