DANI Alves spent his first night of freedom ordering burgers to his £4.5million Barcelona mansion after after serving just four weeks of his rape conviction.
After finally forking out enough cash for his €1million (£850,000) bail, the disgraced footballer left prison yesterday afternoon apparently craving fast food.
On Monday, Alves, 40, walked out of Brians 2 Prison at around 4:25pm local time alongside his lawyer Ines Guardiola and was driven to his luxury property.
The Brazilian, who was convicted of raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022, only served four weeks of his four-and-a-half-year sentence.
On March 20, he won his fight to appeal sentence from the comfort of his own home.
Local reports said he had left a bible, a fan and a box of books at the jail for inmates to use.
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Alves then arrived at the huge pad, which he still owns with his ex-wife but later lived at with his model partner Joana Sanz before his incarceration in January last year.
Stony-faced, he declined to answer any questions and stayed quiet as he walked through his front door.
A housekeeper appeared at the door of his bunker mansion in Esplugues de Llobregat, a 25-minute drive west of Barcelona city centre, in the evening to receive hamburgers Alves ordered for dinner.
His estranged wife Sanz’s whereabouts remain a mystery and she is yet to update her Instagram after deactivating it last week then mysteriously reactivating it over the weekend before Alves’ release on bail.
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Despite filing for divorce in 2023 after the explosive accusations surfaced, Sanz did testify on behalf of Alves in court claiming she was with him the night of the accusations.
A bouquet of flowers was delivered to the property soon after Alves returned, sparking speculation it was a gift for the Tenerife-born brunette who might be inside or could soon arrive.
The dad-of-two can stay fully hunkered down inside the property until the end of the week if he wishes.
As well as paying his €1million bail bond, he has to leave his home to make appearances at court every Friday.
He also had to hand in his Spanish and Brazilian passports so he cannot flee Spain.
It is not known how he raised his bail bond, although speculation is rife that a group of his former teammates could have put the money together.
The convicted rapist was forced to spend another five nights behind bars as he desperately attempted to raise the bail bond despite his £50million career earnings.
Alves, one of the world’s most decorated footballers who played for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, was sentenced on February 22 after being convicted of raping a woman, 23, at a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.
The jail sentence he received, considered lenient by some critics, was far less than the nine years public prosecutors demanded and the 12 years Alves’ female accuser wanted if he was convicted.
Prosecutors have appealed the decision to release him on bail, but the appeal did not affect yesterday’s release.
THE TRIAL
Alves protested his innocence on February 7 after taking the stand on the last day of his three-day trial, saying the sex he had with his 23-year-old female accuser was consensual and insisting he would never hurt anyone.
The victim, who testified behind a screen to protect her identity, said Alves had violently forced her to have sex in a private bathroom of the nightclub despite begging him to let her go, causing her “anguish and terror”, prosecutors said.
Alves’ lawyers had argued the victim had been “glued” to the player while dancing at the nightclub, saying there was “sexual tension” between them.
But the court said in its 61-page decision that this did not mean “that she consented to anything that might have subsequently happened”.
He was due to leave prison on Thursday, but missed the deadline to pay the court his bail.
The fee was believed to be being settled by pal Neymar Jr’s father, reported LaVanguardia.
But Neymar da Silva Santos Sr quickly shut down these claims by issuing a brutal 11-word statement after refusing to pay.
Sources say Santos Sr originally offered help to Alves after his assets were frozen and it is also believed that he also helped to pay the £130,000 compensation package to his victim ordered by the court.
The footballer’s difficulties in raising his bail bond were largely due to the fact his accounts in Brazil have been blocked as a result of an ongoing conflict with his ex-wife.
His former partner, his ex-agent and the mother of his two children, has previously said that Alves “doesn’t exist” for her and refers to him as having died.
Ester Garcia, the lawyer of Alves’ rape victim, attacked the decision to grant him bail last Wednesday.
She fumed on RAC1 radio: “I’m very surprised and totally outraged… because it’s like this is justice for the rich.”
Garcia added: “It is scandalous that they can free a person who they know can get hold of a million euros in a heartbeat.”
She added: “I am very dissatisfied with this court decision. “We will lodge an appeal because we believe it is not in accordance with the law.”
Spain’s former Equality Minister Irene Montero said on X, formerly Twitter: “Powerful men can always buy their freedom.
“This is a dangerous message of lack of legal protection for all women.
“We need the justice system to be feminist and equal for all.”
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Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva also condemned Alves’ release.
He said last week: “The money that Daniel Alves has, the money that someone can lend him, cannot buy the offence that a man does to a woman by committing rape.”
What happened?
BRAZILIAN international footballer Dani Alves was accused of raping a woman in a nightclub in Barcelona on December 30, 2022.
In a trial held in Barcelona in February 2024, the footballer denied the allegations and said the encounter had been consensual.
Held at Barcelona’s Audiencia Provincial Court, the trial lasted three days and saw the victim, witnesses, and experts testify.
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.
In court she claimed that he was aggressive with her, slapping her and insulting her, and then forced her to have sex with him.
Following the trial, Alves was found guilty of raping the woman.
He was convicted on February 22 and sentenced to four-and-a-half years.
The court also ordered Alves to pay £130K (150,000 euros) in compensation to the victim.
The court said in a statement: “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.”
He had previously been held in pre-trial detention since his arrest on January 20, 2023.
Alves’ lawyers immediately appealed his sentence.
On March 20, 2024 – a Barcelona court released Alves on a bail of €1million (£850k) pending an appeal on his conviction.
His defense is seeking his acquittal while the prosecutor wants his prison sentence increased to nine years.
There is no date yet for the new trial at a higher court in Barcelona. It can then go to the Supreme Court in Madrid.
On March 25, 2024 – Alves was released from prison after paying his €1million (£850,000) bail bond.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
