LA LIGA footballer Rafa Mir has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at his villa nearly two years ago.
Mir, 28, played for Elche last season on loan from Sevilla, and the striker had a spell in England with Wolves and Nottingham Forest.
A Valencia court sentenced him to eight and-a-half years of prison.
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It ruled on Monday that Mir and his friend Pablo Jara, who plays for Alcantarilla in Murcia, were both guilty of sexual assault.
Jara, 27, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years of prison for assaulting a second victim and causing physical harm.
Mir denied wrongdoing, saying that consent was given to having sexual relations with him in September 2024.
He was also ordered to pay €64,000 in compensation to the victim.
“I disagree with the ruling and we will appeal in the coming days. I continue to have faith in the justice system,” Mir posted on Instagram on Monday.
In response to Mir’s sentence, Sevilla stated its ‘utmost respect for judicial proceedings and expresses our firm and unequivocal condemnation of any type of violence, abuse, or sexual assault’.
‘Such conduct has no place in our society or in the values promoted by sport’, the club’s statement added.
The assaults happened during Mir’s loan period to Valencia.
The player and Pablo Jara have known each since they were children and grew up in Javali Nuevo in Murcia.
They were charged with sexually assaulting two women, aged 21 and 25 at the time, who they met at a Valencia nightclub.
The attacks happened at Mir’s villa in Betera with the player convicted of assaulting a woman in a swimming pool and then in a bathroom.
A Betera Policia Local patrol assisted the two women outside the property.
They were half-naked and officers responded after a security guard called them after two neighbours said they heard a woman screaming.
The victims then filed complaints with the Guardia Civil and went to Valencia’s La Fe hospital for an examination.
Mir’s lawyer, Jaime Campaner, said at the time that the intercourse was consensual and that Mir categorically denied the accusations.
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