Dani Alves was arrested and refused bail over sex assault claims
Brazil international Dani Alves will spend the night in JAIL after he was arrested over sex assault claims in Barcelona nightclub and judge refuses the World Cup star bail
- He was arrested Friday morning after 23-year-old accused him of sexual assault
- Alves is protesting his innocence amid conflicting reports about the allegations
Brazilian international Dani Alves was set to sleep in a jail cell on Friday night after a judge refused him bail.
The 39-year-old was arrested on Friday morning after a 23-year-old woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at a Barcelona nightclub late last month.
He was driven to court in the Catalan capital after his detention at an undisclosed location in the Catalan capital.
And late this afternoon the judge probing the alleged sex crime ruled he should be remanded in custody pending an ongoing probe after questioning him and the woman separately in court.
Brazil international Dani Alves was arrested by police in Barcelona for questioning and was refused bail after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman. Pictured: Dani Alves
The footballer admitted he had been at iconic Barcelona nightclub Sutton late last month when the alleged sex crime occurred
The decision was taken after a state prosecutor and a lawyer representing Alves’ female accuser asked the unnamed judge to send him to prison while the investigation continues.
The footballer, now with Mexican side UNAM Pumas, had flown to Spain on Wednesday with his Tenerife-born model wife Joana Alves after her mum died.
Alves is protesting his innocence amid conflicting reports about the allegations made against him.
Initial reports following the alleged incident at iconic Barcelona nightclub Sutton said he had been accused of putting his hands inside a woman’s underwear in a toilet.
But today respected Catalan newspaper reported the accusations he was facing following his female accuser’s court appearance were more serious, claiming in an unconfirmed report the woman was alleging he had slapped her before raping her.
Police and court officials have not made any comment on the exact nature of the allegations.
Sexual assault under Spanish law is a catch-all definition that covers everything from sexual groping to rape.
A spokesman 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 into an alleged crime of sexual assault.’
Alves, who has protested his innocence, has not yet been charged with any crime. Formal charges in Spain are normally only laid shortly before trial.
The footballer admitted he had been at iconic city nightclub Sutton late last month when the alleged sex crime occurred.
Dani Alves protested his innocence in a Spanish TV interview after a court confirmed it had opened a formal investigation
But he protested his innocence in a Spanish TV interview after a court confirmed it had opened a formal investigation, insisting: ‘I don’t know who this lady is. I don’t know her name, I don’t know her, I’ve never seen her in my life.’
Today the former Barcelona defender, now with Mexican side UNAM Pumas, was arrested at an undisclosed location and taken to a police station in the neighbourhood of Les Corts to make a statement.
Overnight local reports said the 39-year-old, who became the oldest Brazilian to play in a FIFA World Cup last month, had arranged his police interview through lawyers.
The reports also said he would be arrested and fingerprinted as part of routine procedure before being questioned and taken to the court probing the alleged sexual assault for a further quiz.
A spokesman for the regional Mossos D’Esquadra confirmed: ‘A man accused of an indecent assault at a nightclub in Barcelona late last year has been arrested.
‘He has now been taken to court after making a statement to police.
‘It will be up to the court now to decide what measures to take.’
The charge of sexual abuse in Spain can mean anything from unsolicited and unwanted sexually groping to rape. Police said they could give no detail on the case.
A court official confirmed 10 days ago: ‘Barcelona Court of Instruction Number 15 has opened proceedings over an alleged crime of sexual assault following a complaint filed by a woman against a footballer.
‘The incident allegedly occurred at a nightclub in Barcelona in December.’
A well-respected Spanish news website reported at the start of the month Alves had been alone for 47 seconds in a toilet at Sutton nightclub (pictured) with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her after he left
A spokesman for the investigating magistrate confirmed on Thursday the footballer, who it has not named, and the woman has not yet been questioned in court.
It emerged earlier this week Alves had flown to Spain from Mexico with the permission of his club after his Tenerife-born wife model wife Joana Sanz’s mum died.
UNAM Pumas confirmed in a statement: ‘We regret the death of the mother of Joana Sanz, wife of our player Dani Alves.
‘We send our most sincere condolences.’
A well-respected Spanish news website reported at the start of the month Alves had been alone for 47 seconds in a toilet at Sutton nightclub with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her after he left.
It gave a blow-by-blow account of CCTV footage now in the hands of investigators which led to the woman raising the alarm, although it didn’t publish any images.
The 47-second toilet claim was published by eltaquigrafo.com two days after the first reports of an alleged sexual assault allegedly involving Alves appeared in respected Spanish daily ABC.
ABC, the first newspaper to name Alves, claimed he had allegedly put his hands inside the underwear of a woman said to have danced in a VIP area of the nightclub with the footballer and female friends of hers before she was followed into the toilet.
The former Barcelona defender, now with Mexican side UNAM Pumas, was arrested at an undisclosed destination and taken to a police station
The judge set to question Dani Alves today could decide to remand him in custody pending an ongoing criminal probe.
He would be sent to a local jail while the judicial investigation opened after a woman alleged he had sexually assaulted her at a Barcelona nightclub late last month continues.
Alves could also be set free but told he must stay in Spain and have his passport confiscated as part of a conditional release.
The other option open to the judge is to allow the 39-year-old to return to Mexico where he is currently playing while the probe continues.
He would not be formally charged until shortly before trial, if the judge considers there is enough evidence to warrant a trial after a probe that would normally take months to complete, and invites state prosecutors to submit an indictment.
As in all cases involving an initial court hearing in Spain which are always held behind closed doors and never in public, the judge takes into account several factors when determining whether to release a person under investigation with precautionary measures after questioning or remand in custody.
They include an evaluation of the risk of the possible destruction of evidence, the possibility the accused person could try to contact the alleged victim to exert pressure on them or the risk they could ‘reoffend’.
The judge set to question Dani Alves today could decide to remand him in custody pending an ongoing criminal probe
The other factor the judge will have to take into consideration is the flight risk Alves could pose if released from custody.
The judge would have the option of dismissing the case against the footballer during his first court hearing, but given the fact court officials confirmed yesterday/on Thursday the woman accusing him had yet to be questioned in court that is almost certainly not going to happen.
Alves protested his innocence in a Spanish TV interview ahead of his arrest, insisting he had never met his female accuser although he confirmed he had been at iconic Barcelona nightclub Sutton in late December when the alleged sexual assault occurred.
The Brazil international said: ‘I was in that place, I was with other people enjoying myself.
‘Everyone who knows me knows I like to dance.
‘I was having a good time, but without invading other peoples’ space and always respecting those around me.’
He added, responding to his accuser’s allegations he had put his hands inside her underwear in a nightclub toilet: ‘When you choose to go to the bathroom you don’t have to ask who is in the toilet to go.’
Alves protested his innocence in a Spanish TV interview ahead of his arrest, insisting he had never met his female accuser
And claiming he had never met his accuser he said: ‘I’m sorry but I don’t know who that lady is. I don’t know her name, I don’t know her. I never met her in my life.’
Alves admitted the allegations were causing damage to ‘his people’ in an apparent reference to people like his model wife Joana Sanz.
Joana showed she was backing her husband with an Instagram message ahead of his arrest, saying: ‘I know who my husband is, I know how I met him, I know how respectful he is and he’s never shown me a lack of respect.
‘I have seen women approaching him many times in a VIP area, trying something on with him in my face.
‘If they do that sort of thing when I’m there, I don’t even want to begin to imagine what they’d try when I’m not.’
Alves denied any wrongdoing during questioning at a police station in Barcelona, it emerged this morning.
Local reports said he had been arrested after arranging to meet investigators through his lawyer at an undisclosed location in Barcelona away from the police station where he later made his statement.
Police sources said they would not be offering any information on the exact location of the arrest, although they had earlier confirmed the detention.
Alves is currently said to be in a cell underneath the court complex in Barcelona ahead of his quiz by a judge.
Well-placed sources have said it is unlikely he will be remanded in custody, although it is not yet clear what demand a state prosecutor who will be present in the behind-closed-doors court hearing will make.
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