Dani Alves set for bail appeal hearing in rape case as police report emerges

Thursday is a key day in the Dani Alves sexual-assault case, as a hearing at a Barcelona court will decide whether the footballer is released on bail as he awaits trial over accusations that he raped a woman at a nightclub in the city.

Alves lawyer argues he isn’t a flight risk

Alves’ lawyer, Cristóbal Martell, has submitted an appeal against a Spanish judge’s decision to place the 39-year-old on remand without bail. The Brazilian has been deemed a flight risk, but Martell argues that he has sufficient family and business ties in Spain to be persuaded against fleeing the country.

The lawyer has also made it clear that Alves is willing to wear a tracking device, hand over his passports (he has Brazilian and Spanish citizenship) and periodically report to police.

See also: Joana Sanz says goodbye to Dani Alves

Antena 3 reveals details of police report

Meanwhile, further information has emerged about the night on which Alves is alleged to have raped a 23-year-old woman at Barcelona’s Sutton nightclub. The Spanish TV channel Antena 3 has had access to the police report filed by the Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s autonomous law-enforcement agency.

According to the programme ‘Y ahora Sonsoles’, the club alerted the Mossos at 4:57am on the morning of 31 December that a woman had reported being raped by the former Barcelona player.

The police report reads: “Sexual assault at the Sutton nightclub. Call received from the manager. Reports that a girl says she has suffered sexual harassment. There was physical contact. Both parties are at the scene. Ambulance requested just in case.”

Officers arrived at 5:11am, and at 5:41am, after hearing the complainant’s version of what happened in the VIP area bathroom, the Mossos note in their report that the woman is a possible victim of a sexual assault.

Cousin and friend also report Alves to police

At 5:46am, police note that the perpetrator of the alleged assault is no longer at the club, and at 6:01am the report states that the woman has been transferred to Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic.

At the hospital, the complainant’s lawyer says, she was given medication to prevent possible sexually-transmitted diseases. “The hospital prescribed a whole course of treatment aimed at avoiding any type of infectious disease, because no condom was used,” Ester García López told the Brazilian media outlet UOL last month.

The police report additionally reveals that both the complainant’s cousin and friend informed officers that they had been harassed by Alves, reporting that he also touched them without their consent.