On Thursday, Dani Alves was convicted of sexual assault, and sentenced to four years and six months in prison. The 40-year-old’s trial into the charge was heard earlier this month, and a guilty verdict has now been returned.
Alves’ sentence has turned out to be a rather lenient one in terms of sentence length, as in Spain, a person can be jailed from a minimum of four years to a maximum of 12 if they are found guilty of sexual assault. The prosecutors in the case had asked for Alves to be handed a nine-year sentence, while the victim wanted the former Barcelona and Brazil defender to be behind bars for the maximum period of 12 years.
Alves could have been given a longer sentence, but according to sources in Brazil (via Sport), leniency was shown because the victim received a compensation package worth €150k before the trial began – it didn’t come from Alves, as he claimed to be broke, but rather from the family of Neymar Junior, his former teammate at Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Brazil. Neymar’s family are said to have given the money to Alves in order to make the payment, because he couldn’t afford it himself.
Alves has spent the last 13 months in prison, and his stay will now be extended by another 54. However, at least according to this report, it could have been much worse.
