Celta Vigo striker Santi Mina sentenced to prison for sexually abusing woman

Celta Vigo forward Santi Mina has been sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of sexually abusing a woman.

The 26-year-old was found guilty of sexual abuse on Wednesday morning. Along with his custodial sentence, Mina has been ordered to pay the victim €50,000 in compensation (around £42,000) and must maintain a distance of 500 metres from her for 12 years.

Mina has been acquitted of the charge of sexual assault. His defence team will appeal the sentence. The alleged incident happened in Mojacar, a town in the Spanish region of Andalucia, in the summer of 2017. The forward was charged by police in December 2019.

His former team-mate David Goldar was also on trial in connection with the alleged incident, accused of sexual assault. The 27-year-old was absolved of criminal liability.

Mina's defence claimed the complainant "gave her consent at all times" and the defendant "stopped" when asked. The defendant's lawyer reportedly told court: "If there was no consent, of course he did not know it until he verbalised it."

Mina started his career at Celta, scoring 12 goals in 56 appearances to earn a move to Valencia in July 2015. He scored 42 goals during his four-year spell at the Mestalla - winning the Copa del Rey in 2018-19 - before returning to Celta in the summer of 2019.

The former Spain U21 international has been a regular at Celta since his return, despite the charges. He even started their most recent game against Granada on Sunday, with the club refusing to act until the case was settled. Celta have now issued a statement.

"As a result of the ruling of the Third Section of the Provincial Court of Almeria, 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," Wednesday's statement reads.

"For this reason and as a precaution, it has been decided to temporarily 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, showing once again its absolute rejection of the offense defined in the judicial resolution."

Speaking about the case in April, Celta president Carlos Mourino said: "It would be to anticipate a judicial sentence that we are never going to make. First the sentence will have to come out and then make our decision."

Siareiros Celta Vigo (SCV), a supporters' group, have called for Mina to be sacked immediately. "After sentencing Santi Mina, SCV wants to show his strong condemnation and contempt for acts that are intolerable," the group tweeted on Wednesday. "The collective demands the immediate pronouncement of Celta and the termination of the contract of the player of our club."