Dani Alves sentenced to four and a half years in jail over assault

The former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves has been sentenced to four years and six months for the rape of a 23-year-old woman in a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022. A written statement from the Audiencia Nacional in Barcelona asserts that the victim did not to consent to with Alves and that evidence presented to the court, in addition to the victim’s statement, proved that she had been raped. Alves denied wrongdoing and his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, has said they will appeal. The prosecution had demanded a nine-year sentence and the victim’s legal team asked for 12. Alves’s sentence is barely more than the minimum of four years and because he has completed a quarter of his sentence on remand, he could soon be released on licence.