FORMER Wolves and Nottingham Forest striker Rafa Mir has been warned he could face more than a decade behind bars over a violent sexual assault.
Public prosecutors in Spain said overnight they were seeking a prison sentence totalling ten and a half years for the 28-year-old footballer, who currently plays for LaLiga club Elche on loan from Sevilla.
Mir was charged last October after a long-running court probe sparked by his arrest in September 2024 when an investigating judge ruled there was enough evidence to put him on the stand.
Court officials at the time said he had been indicted for a “sexual assault with penetration involving the use of violence.”
Mir’s female accuser, aged 21 at the time, claimed she had been targeted at the footballer’s home on a residential estate in the town of Betera near the east coast city of Valencia after meeting him at a nightclub.
A friend of the former Spain youth international, Pablo Jara, was also arrested and charged with a separate sexual assault on a female pal of the unnamed woman.
Public prosecutors are demanding a nine-year jail term for Mir if he is found guilty of the alleged sexual assault, in which he is accused of penetrating his accuser twice without her consent by his pool and in a bathroom.
They want him jailed for another 18 months if he is convicted of a crime of wounding.
As well as a custodial sentence Spanish state prosecutors say he should get a 13-year restraining order preventing him from going within 500 metres of his alleged victim and pay her €64,000 (£55,000) in compensation.
The footballer, who has protested his innocence, has been the target of regular abuse by away supporters since his detention and release on bail shortly after his arrest.
In a statement released after his detention, Rafa Mir said insisting he was innocent of any wrongdoing: “I have full confidence in this country’s judicial system with which I have co-operated from the outset to clarify what happened.”
He went on to apologise to his teammates and club, which handed him a record fine, for partying into the early hours of the morning.
Pablo Jara is facing a three-year prison demand for his alleged crime against the other woman, aged 25 at the time.
Mir is said to have had consensual sex with Jara’s female accuser before allegedly turning his attention to the younger woman.
In their pre-trial indictment prosecutors say he “lifted her up in his arms and threw her into the pool with her clothes on” before “grabbing her tightly and, with the intention of satisfying his lustful desires, began kissing her face and neck.”
They claim he penetrated her using his fingers, the reason he is facing a far higher prison demand than his friend, after forcing her to kiss him.
His second alleged sexual assault is said to have happened after she fled the footballer’s house and phoned her dad asking him to come and collect her, before realising she had left her handbag inside the property and returned to fetch it.
The alleged crimes took place in the early hours of September 1 2024.
Mir, full name Rafael Mir Vicente, won the 2019 European Championship with the Spain national under-21 football team and a silver medal with the Olympic team at the 2020 tournament.
He joined Wolves on a four-and-a-half year contract in January 2018 and took the number 9 shirt, linking up with former Valencia boss Nuno Espírito Santo.
He had loan spells at Las Palmas and Nottingham Forest while with Wolves, and left the club for good in August 2021 when he signed a six-year contract with Sevilla.
He returned to boyhood club Valencia on loan in July 2024 before switching to Elche.
LaLiga confirmed earlier this week it was investigating after Espanyol defender Omar El Hilali alleged he had been racially abused by Mir during the two teams’ game on Sunday.
Spain-born El Hilali, whose parents are Moroccan, claimed the striker had told him: “You came here on a small boat” in the 78th minute of the match.
Mir subsequently denied racially abusing his rival, saying he had threatened to rip his head off after El Hilali insulted him first. Both players covered their mouths during their verbal confrontation.
No date has yet been set for the sexual assault trial, due to take place in Valencia with three judges and without a jury.
