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FORMER Barca star Dani Alves is planning to appeal the bombshell four-and-a-half years prison sentence he was handed.
The Brazilian defender, 40, was found guilty of raping a woman in the toilets of the nightclub Sutton on December 30, 2022.
He was ordered to pay £130,000 (150,000 euros) to the victim and stay away from her for nine-and-a-half-years.
“The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent and that there is evidence, in addition to the testimony of the plaintiff, to consider the rape proven,” the court said in a statement.
Speaking outside the court, Alves’ lawyer Inés Guardiola said they were planning to appeal the sentence.
She told reporters: “Four-and-a-half years is much better than nine and 12 that the accusation requested, but we are going to appeal because I still believe in Mr Alves’ innocence.
“We are going to review the sentence, but I can tell you that we are going to appeal.
“We continue to believe in the innocence of Mr Alves. He already knows the sentence and is whole.
“We will defend his innocence to the end.”
State prosecutors were seeking nine years while the lawyers representing Alves’s accuser wanted 12 years.
Following the sentence, Alves headed back to Brians 2 prison near the Catalan capital.
In a trial held in Barcelona earlier this month, the footballer denied the allegations and said the encounter had been consensual.
The trial, held at Barcelona’s Audiencia Provincial Court lasted three days with the alleged victim, witnesses, and experts testifying.
The Brazilian defender was accused of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub on December 30, 2022.
He has previously confirmed he had sex with a woman in the nightclub’s toilet but insisted it was consensual.
Alves has been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest in January 2023.
In a brief statement, the Barcelona court said Wednesday it had “summoned all parties in the Alves case, including the defendant, to appear in court for a so-called “notification procedure”.
His accuser told the prosecution that she had willingly entered the bathroom with him, but that he forced her to stay after she wanted to leave.
She claims that he was aggressive with her, slapping her and insulting her, and then forced her to have sex with him.
During the first day of the footballer’s trial a friend and cousin of his accuser claimed he also groped them in the VIP area.
The two women claim he then invited their friend, the alleged rape victim, to follow him through a separate door after flirting with her.
His ex-wife Joana Sanz told the court Alves “smelled of alcohol” and “he bumped into several pieces of furniture and collapsed on the bed” after arriving home the night of the assault.
But she said she didn’t want to talk to him because of “the state he was in”.
Alves has made repeated bail requests but they have all been turned down, with judges saying his alleged victim’s version of events was coherent and pointing out Alves had changed his story several times as the evidence authorities have against him has emerged.
In an exclusive interview from his cell in Brians 2 Prison near Barcelona last June with Spanish TV he claimed: “The only person I have to ask for forgiveness is my wife, Joana Sanz.”
Online Reporter