After learning of the conviction of four years and six months of the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) to Dani Alves for sexual assault, the place where he started his career before making the leap to Sevilla is looking to demolish a statue of the disgraced soccer star.
The statue of the player is located in Brazil, where local authorities are considering taking action on the matter. The work was inaugurated in 2020 and has been vandalized at least twice. Now the city council is considering removing it.
The player was honored in the city of Juazeiro, in the north of Bahia, for his sports career during which he won countless trophies including the UEFA Champions League and LaLiga title. In the 2020 event, the statue, made by artist Leo Santana, was unveiled showing the player, life-size, wearing the Brazilian national team jersey, while carrying a ball at his feet.
But as Alves goes from hero to zero, the statue has been vandalized since the case became public and the player was sentenced to jail.
“It’s about time to vandalize the statue of Daniel Alves on the outskirts of Juazeiro, right?” says a neighbor from her account on social media. “It has gotten embarrassing.”
The words of the Brazilian citizen send a clear message and they’re words that are the sentiment of the entire area, that have now forced the Juazeiro City Council to decide what to do with the statue.
Right now the municipality is evaluating the situation in a process that began a few days ago. A final decision will be made public soon but the brother of Dani Alves, has tried to defend the footballer through social networks without success.
Alves’ sentencing: What happened?
The 40-year-old Alves, who is one of the most decorated soccer players in history, had denied sexually assaulting the woman in the early hours of 31 December 2022 and his lawyer had asked for his acquittal, and said she would appeal against the verdict.
But a lawyer for the victim welcomed the verdict, saying that it “recognized what we had always known: the truth [as told] by the victim and the suffering there had been.”
As well as handing Alves a four-and-a-half year sentence, the court said he should face a further five years’ probation. The prosecution had asked for a nine-year prison sentence.
In Spain, a claim of rape was investigated under the general accusation of sexual assault, and convictions could lead to prison sentences of four to 15 years.