Brazil international Dani Alves has been arrested by police in Barcelona and driven to court for questioning after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a city nightclub.
The footballer admitted he had been at iconic city nightclub Sutton late last month when the alleged sex crime occurred.
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 neighborhood 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 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 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.’
