08/27/2021 10:04
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 08/27/2021 3:14 PM
Benjamin Mendy, a French defender for Manchester City, was
charged with four counts of rape and one sexual assault and placed in pre-trial detention
, by a decision of a British court on Friday.
The 27-year-old footballer, dressed in black pants and a red hooded jumpsuit, appeared in court in Chester, in the north-west of England, where the judge ordered his admission to preventive detention.
Mendy only spoke to confirm her name, address and date of birth.
The events had been reported by three people over the age of 16
, the police said.
Manchester City had already announced on Thursday the suspension of the player pending the investigation. "Manchester City can confirm that following his indictment by the police on this day, Benjamin Mendy has been suspended for the duration of the investigation."
Mendy came to City from Monaco.
Photo: AFP
"The case is the subject of a judicial procedure and the club cannot, for that reason, make other comments until it is finished," adds the club.
To sign Mendy,
City paid Monaco 52 million pounds ($ 70.5 million) in 2017
, making him the most expensive defender in history at the time.
His career was marked by several injuries
, such as a torn cruciate ligament in 2017. His muscle and knee problems repeatedly slowed his progression.
Mendy with Pep Guardiola, DT of City who suspended him as soon as he knew of the accusation.
Photo: AP
The gamer was already in the sights of the tabloids when his Lamborghini Avenador SVJ, worth more than $ 587,000, was seized at the end of 2020. He was driving it without a license or insurance.
He was found guilty in that case and sentenced to a $ 1,175 fine.
The French international (10 games for his national team) played just 75 games for City in the last four seasons.
Other cases
Mendy's is added to other rape accusations made in recent years against footballers.
In May 2013, French Loïc Remy, then a player for Queens Park Rangers, was arrested for the gang rape of a woman.
The charges were later dropped a few months later.
Charges for a similar act against Bafetimbi Gomis in France were also dropped.
The Brazilian Neymar managed to file a complaint in Brazil of a woman who accused him of having abused her in May 2019 in a Parisian hotel.
However, that complaint ended his relationship with Nike, one of his main sponsors.
Neymar also had an accusation of sexual abuse in 2019.
Cristiano Ronaldo accepted a deal after an accusation.
He paid $ 375,000 to a former American model, Kathryn Mayorga, who accused him of raping him in 2009 in a Las Vegas hotel room.
For his part, the Brazilian Robinho was sentenced to nine years in prison by a Milan court for the gang rape of a 23-year-old Albanian girl, when the footballer was a member of AC Milan. Robinho, currently in Brazil, was never arrested to fulfill his sentence.
Robinho is serving a 9-year prison sentence in Italy.
For now he was never arrested.
Source: agencies
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