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Celta Vigo forward Santi Mina has been found guilty by a Spanish court of sexually abusing a woman while UD Ibiza defender David Goldar has been acquitted of being an accomplice.
The court in Almeria, Spain, on Wednesday acquitted Mina on a rape charge but found him guilty of a sexual abuse crime and handed the player a four-year sentence.
Mina, 26, has been given a restraining order with respect to the victim that will last 12 years and will have to pay €50,000 as compensation. The ruling can be appealed to Spain’s Supreme Court.
The incident occurred in the southern Spanish province of Almeria in 2017. The woman accused Mina, who was a Valencia player at the time, of raping her in a camper van, where she had gone with Goldar.
Goldar, a former Celta player, was accused of not stopping the incident from happening. Both players maintained their innocence.
The state prosecutor requested eight years of prison for Mina for rape while the victim’s lawyer had demanded four-and-a-half years for Goldar.
Following Wednesday’s ruling, LaLiga club Celta announced it had “provisionally removed” Mina from their first team while opening disciplinary proceedings against the player.
A club statement said: “As a result of the ruling of the Provincial Court of Almeria ruling issued today, RC Celta has decided to open a disciplinary file on the player Santiago Mina to elucidate his work responsibilities in view of this resolution. For this reason and as a precautionary measure, it has been decided to provisionally remove the player from first team training, without prejudice to his continuing to carry out the activities indicated by the club for this purpose.
“RC Celta respects the player’s right to defence but is obliged to take measures against those events that notoriously undermine the image of the club and directly attack its values, once again showing its most absolute rejection of the offense defined in the judicial resolution.”
Mina, who plays for Spain’s Under-21 team, has contributed nine goals and five assists in 36 appearances for Celta in all competitions this season.