Former Real Madrid and Manchester City forward Robinho has lost his four-year appeal on his rape conviction and will serve nine years in prison, according to reports.
Robinho dazzled football fans for more than a decade all across Europe and Brazil with his silky touches, skills, and incredible footballing style. He was an epitome of “joga bonito”, the Brazilian flair that the world could not get enough of. Like quite a few of his peers, he enjoyed the fast life and as a result scandal followed him everywhere.
The incident that led to his conviction happened in 2013 while Robinho was on the books at AC Milan. He, along with five other Brazilians, were accused of the gang rape of an Albanian woman who was 22 years old at the time. In 2017, he was found guilty and appealed the judgment immediately, leading to a four-year process that exhausted the player’s time, career and resources. Early this week, the Supreme Court in Rome, Italy, rejected his appeal and upheld his conviction, sentencing him to nine years in prison.
His sentence is to begin immediately, but with Brazilian laws surrounding the extradition of Brazilian nationals for crimes committed outside Brazil a little cumbersome, the Italian judiciary will instead request that the former Santos forward serve his sentence in a Brazilian jail.
