A former Spanish player has run out of road in his bid to stay out of prison over a 2017 sexual assault case.
The newspaper "Mundo Deportivo" reported that the Supreme Court upheld the four-year prison sentence handed to footballer Santi Mina. The charge: sexually assaulting a woman in July 2017 in a parked van near a nightclub in Mojácar (Almería), where the player was staying and travelling with friends.
The Criminal Chamber rejected Mina's appeal against the ruling of the High Court of Andalusia, which had upheld the prison sentence issued by the Almería court. It did, however, reduce the compensation for the victim from 50,000 euros to 25,000 euros.
Celta Vigo, Mina's last club, unilaterally terminated the player's contract in August 2023 with two years still remaining.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court stated that "the accused took advantage of the victim's proximity and the surprise of the situation in which she found herself to carry out two non-consensual sexual acts, and interrupted his actions when he realised that continuing would require overcoming her opposition by force".
There is, the court explained, no evidence that Mina had obtained consent he then misunderstood.
It continued: "The case does not include any information indicating that Santiago Mina misunderstood the statement of consent, nor does it necessarily allow such a misinterpretation to be inferred from the proven circumstances".
The court also rejected the victim's appeal. She had asked for the former player to be convicted and jailed for eight years, plus another six years as a supplementary penalty.
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Mina represented Spain at various levels, from the youth ranks up to the under-21 side, but he never won a senior cap.