Dani Alves gives his fourth version of events in rape trial

Dani Alves has spoken in court again and this time he assured the judge that the relationship he had with the 23-year-old complainant at the Sutton nightclub was consensual sex and, therefore, he did not rape her. The events took place on the night of 30 December 2022.

This is the fourth version of events he has given in response to the DNA analysis of the remains of semen found inside the victim's body, which revealed that she had been penetrated. Something that Alves denied in the only statement he had made before the judge until today. That was on 20 January.

The Brazilian player, for whom the judge ordered detention without bail when she questioned him after his arrest, asked him to give his version of what happened again before the magistrate, based on an article of the law of criminal prosecution that allows a defendant to testify as many times as he deems appropriate during his criminal proceedings.

The sportsman initially maintained that he did not know the victim, then admitted that he met the girl in the bathroom of the club without anything happening between them and finally, when the judge confronted his explanations with the biological evidence, he maintained that the girl had consensually performed fellatio on him.

The footballer justified the ups and downs of his story by claiming, firstly, that he wanted to protect the girl and, subsequently, that he wanted to hide the infidelity from his wife, the model Joana Sanz, who last month announced on social media her intention to separate from him after eight years of marriage.

This is therefore the fourth version he has given and the one he will use in the future trial where he could face up to 12 years in prison for the acts he is accused of.