Since former Celta Vigo captain Hugo Mallo was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman working as an Espanyol mascot this week, the case has quickly become the most talked about in Spain.
Mallo, now at Greek club Aris Thessaloniki, was accused of touching the breasts of the woman, who was dressed as a parakeet — the official mascot of the Barcelona club.
The incident took place over five years ago — on April 24, 2019 — but a verdict was only reached on Thursday. Mallo, now 33, was ordered to pay a €1,000 fine (£830; $1,100 at current rates) to the victim and cover her legal costs.
The shocking nature of the offence (Mallo groped the woman as Celta and Espanyol players shook hands before kick-off) has attracted lots of attention — as has the punishment.
Since the judge’s decision was announced, the victim has also waived her right to anonymity and spoken publicly about what happened, while Spanish right-back Mallo has announced his intention to appeal.
Here, The Athletic brings you up to date.
What happened?
As the Celta and Espanyol teams prepared for kick-off, players from both sides shook hands, with the Celta starting XI filing across to greet their rivals and the match officials.
At the end of the row of Espanyol players stood two club mascots — dressed as male and female parakeets. Espanyol fans have long been called Pericos (parakeets) because of the birds that lived near their old Estadio de Sarria, the team’s home ground in Barcelona from 1923 to 1997.
The female parakeet mascot was last in line.
In a court document summarising the verdict — seen by The Athletic — the presiding judge said it was considered proven that Mallo “put his hands under her disguise and touched her breasts, forcing her to move back and push the accused away with her right hand”.
Hugo Mallo, pictured with Celta in 2023 (Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
Mallo was ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings, including those incurred by the prosecution. He was also ordered to pay the woman €1,000. On Thursday evening, hours after the ruling was made public, she gave an interview to Spanish media outlet Diario AS.
“Precisely one of our strengths was to make it clear that I did not want financial compensation, I simply wanted justice to be done,” Carme Coma said.
What else has the woman said?
Coma spoke of her gratitude for the support she received from Espanyol, also saying that she had not received any contact from Mallo or anybody connected with him.
“I am no longer afraid, the truth has won,” she said of her decision to speak publicly about what happened.
“I have an obligation to let people know that these things also happen to normal people. It happened to me, but it could have happened to anyone else doing my job. Also to a man.”
Why did it take so long to get to court?
According to the sentencing documents produced by the criminal court in Barcelona, the player’s defence team requested no proceedings take place from May 2023 to July 2024, which delayed the sentence.
In addition, judicial sources spoken to for this article — who preferred to do so anonymously to protect their position — said the Covid-19 pandemic slowed down the process. They said criminal courts across Spain had suffered “delays due to a lack of material and human resources”.
Mallo with Brazilian club Internacional in 2023 (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Another key thing to mention here is that, because Mallo’s offence took place five years ago in 2019, he was tried according to the laws of that time. Spain has since introduced stricter laws around sexual assault and harsher punishments for offenders — in accordance with a reform of the penal code that came into force in April 2023.
What’s going to happen next?
As also clarified in the judge’s ruling, the decision gives rise to the right to appeal at the Barcelona provincial court, which must be lodged within 10 days.
That is what Mallo’s defence is going to do, according to a statement from the player himself on his social networks.
“I will exhaust all the necessary instances to defend my innocence with regard to facts, for which I absolutely deny any authorship,” Mallo wrote.
Who is Hugo Mallo?
Mallo, 33, was brought up in Galicia and began his career at local club Celta, based in Vigo, one of the region’s major cities.
Having made his way through the Celta youth system, he made 449 appearances across a 14-year stay at the club. He joined Brazilian side Internacional in July 2023 and played 20 games before moving to Greek Super League side Aris this summer.
Between 2010 and 2011, he represented Spain’s under-19s, under-20s and under-21s.
(Top photo: Urbanandsport/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
