The woman who accused Dani Alves of sexual assault in Barcelona last month identified the Brazilian World Cup star by a tattoo on his abdomen, it has been claimed.
The alleged victim said the former Barcelona right-back slapped her and raped her in the toilets of the Spanish city’s Sutton nightclub in December.
The 39-year-old footballer is in prison while he remains under investigation.
Judicial sources have claimed that Alves’s crescent-shaped tattoo on his abdomen was visible during the alleged attack.
The woman who accused Dani Alves of sexual assault in Barcelona last month identified the Brazilian World Cup star by a tattoo on his abdomen, it has been claimed
The woman says she noticed the tattoo when he tried to force her to give him oral sex and she resisted in the locked bathroom stall at the VIP club.
The international footballer had testified that he was the one sat on the toilet when the woman pounced on him.
The judge asked how it was possible for the woman to see his tattoo if his shirt was covering his torso.
The Champions League winning star then allegedly altered his testimony to say he stood up when she entered, allowing her to see the tattoo, according to El Mundo.
He said the pair then had consensual sex, despite initially denying knowledge of the alleged victim and saying the pair only crossed paths in the bathroom without meeting.
The alleged victim said the former Barcelona right-back slapped her and raped her in the toilets of the Spanish city’s Sutton nightclub in December (pictured playing in Qatar)
The woman says she noticed the tattoo when he tried to force her to give him oral sex and she resisted in the locked bathroom stall at the VIP club (pictured)
Due to the apparent inconsistency in his evidence, Alves’s family wants him to change his lawyer and testify again, Spanish media has claimed.
Yesterday, Alves moved from the Brians 1 prison to the smaller Brian 2 prison where inmates are convicted of sexual crimes.
The new detention centre has ‘smaller residential modules’ where it is easier to guarantee the safety and co-existence of inmates.
Authorities said the type of crime that Alves is being accused of was not taken into consideration in the decision to transfer him.
Alves spent three nights at another facility that holds about 200 inmates.
The new one accommodates about 80 detainees, including convicted prisoners and others awaiting trial.
Alves is expected to share a cell with another inmate for now.
The defence attorneys are set to file an appeal against the detention, who are arguing he should be granted more freedom but without a passport.
But there are fears that if he made it back to Brazil, where there is no extradition treaty with Spain, he would remain out of the hands of the law.
Dana Dinorah, ex-wife of Alves, said: ‘I’m still in shock. It seems like it’s a nightmare and it’s not happening.’
Former wife and agent Dinorah here pictured at a press conference in Barcelona in 2015
Insisting she believed the father of their two children was innocent, the Brazilian-based businesswoman said in an interview with a Spanish TV programme: ‘Dani would never ever ever do this.
‘I say this because I’ve known him for 22 years and was married to him for ten.
‘This has been a shock for me and for my children.
‘I have two teenage children who are suffering.’
Speaking to the programme Fiesta on Spain’s Telecinco station, Dana added: ‘Dani asked his lawyer to call me so I could sort out his most urgent things.
‘I found out he was in prison because of that phone call he asked his lawyer to make to me.
‘I’ve not had access to Dani and haven’t been able to speak to him on the phone. His lawyer says he’s sad but he’s okay. She’s the only one who has been able to see him.
‘I’m here for whatever I can do to help him.’
Brians 1 prison near Barcelona where former Barcelona footballer Dani Alves is being held
Dani Alves (L) in 2021 with wife Joana Sanz (R), who spoke recently on her husband’s arrest
Dana spoke after the footballer’s current wife, Spanish model Joana Sanz, said she had lost the ‘two pillars of my life’ following her husband’s incarceration and her mother’s death.
The former Barcelona defender, sacked by Mexican club UNAM Pumas after it emerged he had been remanded in custody by a judge over the sexual assault allegations, was arrested after flying to Spain last week following the death of his mother-in-law.
Spanish media reported the footballer had asked his defence lawyer for permission to be questioned again under oath by the judge who sent him to prison pending an ongoing probe so he could clarify reported inconsistencies in statements he has made inside and outside court about the allegations before and after his arrest.
He told a TV programme before his arrest he had never met his female accuser although he admitted to being at the nightclub where the alleged incident occurred.
Spanish media reports over the weekend, which police and court officials have not commented on, have claimed he told the judge he had ‘consensual sex’ with the woman after being told witnesses and CCTV footage contradicted his TV claims he had not met his alleged victim.
Former Barcelona right-back Dani Alves (R), 39, pictured with his wife Joana Sanz (L), 29
Dani Alves moved to Mexican league team UNAM Pumas after a year back at Barcelona
Tenerife-born Joana Sanz had already shown she was backing her man ahead of his arrest and incarceration, saying on social media her husband had never shown her a lack of respect and claiming she had seen women ‘trying it on’ with Alves in front of her.
Hours before he was remanded in custody she posted a photo of them holding hands with the message ‘Together’ in English.
On Friday night Joana, who married Alves in Formentera off Ibiza in 2017, wrote: ‘I ask media who are outside my house to please respect my privacy at this moment.
‘My mother died a week ago and I have barely begun to take on board that she is no longer with me for me to be tormented with the situation of my husband.
‘I have lost the only two pillars in my life.’
Alves was let go from his contract at UNAM Pumas after returning from a stint at Barcelona
Investigations of the sort currently being conducted by the investigating magistrate can take months and even years in some cases to complete, although when suspects are being held in jail they speed up their probes as much as possible.
People under formal investigation can be held in prison without charge for up to four years in Spain, although the normal limit is two years.
Formal charges in Spain are only laid when an investigating magistrate rules there is sufficient evidence for a trial to take place and subsequently invites prosecutors to submit an indictment.
Both the state prosecutor in this case and a lawyer acting for Alves’s female accuser demanded the footballer’s remand in custody during the behind-closed-doors court hearing on Friday which followed his arrest at an undisclosed location in Barcelona.
Alves has won 42 football titles, including three Champions Leagues with Barcelona and two Copa Americas with Brazil.
He played in his third World Cup, the only major title to elude him, last month.
