Football: Celta suspend Spanish player Mina after four-year term for sexual abuse

Santi Mina was also granted a restraining order and will have to pay compensation of €50,000 (S$72,800) to the victim. PHOTO: AFP

MADRID (REUTERS) - A Spanish court has handed footballer Santi Mina a four-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a woman in the southern town of Mojacar in 2017, court documents showed on Wednesday (May 4), prompting his club Celta Vigo to temporarily suspend him.

The 26-year-old, who had been accused alongside Ibiza footballer David Goldar, was also granted a restraining order and will have to pay compensation of €50,000 (S$72,800) to the victim, showed the ruling by an Almeria court dated April 26.

Goldar, 27, was cleared of all charges, the court said.

Mina was briefly detained in June 2017 after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman while on holiday in Mojacar.

The ruling can be appealed in higher courts before the sentence is carried out.

"RC Celta respects the player's right to a defence, but is forced to take measures against the events that notoriously undermine the image of the club and directly attack its values," the La Liga club said in a statement.

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