“When Celta signed Santi Mina, having already been accused, nobody said practically anything,” says Jessica Fernandez, of feminist group Plataforma Feminista Galega. “Just some feminist groups and some groups of female Celta fans, but very, very little.”
That summer, Celta moved to bring him back to Balaidos, in a swap move involving Uruguayan Maxi Gomez, which valued Mina at €15million. In November 2019, it was announced the Almeria public prosecutor planned to take the case to court. The following month, Mina was present at Juzgado de Instruccion numero 1 court in Vera, Almeria, where a judge agreed there was sufficient evidence to go to trial.“The club has zero tolerance, but we have to give him the presumption of innocence,” club president Mourino said at the club’s AGM that month. “ says he is relaxed, that this will not have any consequences for him.
Celta protected Mina by making him available for only carefully controlled media interviews and not putting him forward for routine press conferences. He did some club media work, including answering questions from fans on the club’s website. Last December, he was chosen to represent the club on a visit to a children’s ward at Vigo’s Hospital Alvaro Cunqueiro, to which local media photographers were invited.
The case took place over five days from Monday March 28 to Friday April 1 at the Audiencia Provincial de Almeria. Over the five days, the defence repeatedly questioned the reliability and plausibility of the victim. It emerged that they had hired two private detectives to follow her to look for evidence to throw doubts on her version of events of the night and how it had affected her life afterwards.
The court also heard from three psychologists that the victim had suffered post-traumatic stress. Medics and psychologists who attended to the victim, as well as Guardia Civil officers, all backed up her story.Many back in Vigo were following the events closely, but it made no difference to Mina’s position at Celta. He was named in the Celta squad for that weekend’s home game against Real Madrid despite having spent most of the week attending court in Almeria over 1,000km away.
“Come on, is it not the night that Santi Mina ruined the life of a woman who has been suffering ever since?” Martinez says. “But they have to put the focus on the victim, make a story out of it. It was terrible how they revictimised the woman, pointed fingers at her again and put the focus on her all the time. The basic point is that you have to respect the wishes of the other person. It is a bit absurd to even have this conversation, but we need to keep saying it.