Cristina Rubio Barcelona

Barcelona

Updated Tuesday, February 6, 2024-16:24

Bruno

, the close friend of

Dani Alves

who was there the night of a young woman's complaint of sexual assault at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, ​​declared this Tuesday that the footballer "drank a lot" throughout that day, Friday the 30th. December 2022.

As the Brazilian explained, Alves, himself and two other friends were eating and having drinks at a restaurant in Barcelona's Eixample, Taverna del Clínic, before going to the Nuba club and then finishing the night in Sutton.

Bruno has reported that Alves would have drunk at least a bottle and a half of wine, two glasses of whiskey and two gin and tonics before arriving at Sutton and ordering a Magnum bottle of cava in the booth.

When asked by the Prosecutor's Office, the former footballer's friend explained that they were dancing with the complainant and two other girls - the cousin and the friend who yesterday testified before the court and confirmed the sexual assault - before Alves got into the little one. bathroom to which the victim later went. According to his version, when he left, Alves stayed and "continued dancing" while they left.

The Prosecutor's Office has warned of the "contradictions" in Bruno's statement and has recalled that in his first version - during the investigation phase - he spoke of "half a drink" consumed and maintained that Alves had gone into the bathroom because his belly hurt.

The lawyer Inés Guardiola - she took over from the media Cristóbal Martell and undertook a new turn in the defense - asks for Alves' acquittal. However, she also adds in her letter that the former soccer player was drunk when he invited the victim and his two friends to the booth at the Sutton nightclub. An important variable in the strategy since, if it is considered proven, it could be a mitigating factor in the sentence.

Dani Alves

sits in court accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old girl at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on the night of December 30-31. The oral hearing, which began this Monday, February 5, a few minutes after 10:30, will last until tomorrow, Wednesday, and the former footballer faces a sentence of between 9 and 12 years in prison. The Brazilian will testify last, after all the witnesses and expert evidence.

The case dates back to the night of Friday, December 30, 2022.

Alves

was on vacation in

Barcelona

before rejoining the Pumas of Mexico and after having played in the World Cup. After 2:30 in the morning, he went to the nightclub's booth with a friend and occupied table 6, the only one that gives exclusive access to the so-called Suite, an area with a small toilet, a living room with a sofa, a television and a refrigerator. There, in the booth, they met the young woman and two other girls.

After inviting them to drink for an hour, the former full-back of the Brazilian team would have insisted that the young woman enter the exclusive area where the small toilet was, which she did not know about. In that bathroom, according to the

Prosecutor's Office

,

Alves

would have shown a "violent attitude" towards the woman, whom he attacked and forced to have sexual relations, despite her resistance.

"He penetrated her vaginally until he ejaculated, without using a condom and without her consent," says the Public Ministry. "The victim repeatedly requested that he let her go, that she wanted to get out of there, and the defendant did not allow it," indicates the document, which states that lived a "situation of anguish and terror."

Two images marked the first day of the trial of the former soccer player, accused of sexually assaulting the 23-year-old girl. The first was the reappearance of the former footballer after a year in preventive detention, a little thinner, with a little less hair and dressed without fanfare (white shirt, jeans and plain sneakers); and the second were the testimonies of the complainant's friend and cousin supporting her version - "[The victim] told me that he had hurt her a lot and that he had cum inside" - after she testified behind closed doors. . Both burst into tears during a tense interrogation before the court, the defense and the

Prosecutor's Office

, which is asking for nine years in prison.