Benjamin Mendy acquitted of six counts of rape

The French soccer player Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of six rapes and one sexual assault this Friday by the British justice system, but he will be retried for two charges of rape and another of attempted rape for which the jury has not reached an agreement. verdict.

The unanimous verdicts were delivered this Wednesday by the eleven members of the jury, made up of seven men and four women, after 14 days of deliberation.

Thus, they estimated that Mendy, 28, is innocent of seven of the charges against him, while they could not reach a verdict regarding an attempted rape of a woman in 2018 and a rape of another woman in October. of 2020, charges for which he will be tried again as of June 26, Judge Steven Everett announced.

The French international defender, suspended for more than a year by his club, Manchester City, had appeared in Chester court since early August.

Accused of seven rapes, one attempted rape and one sexual assault, the soccer player faced a life sentence.

Also accused, Louis Saha Matturie (no connection to former player Louis Saha), who was named as his accomplice, has been found not guilty on three counts of rape, although the jury has yet to reach a verdict on three other counts of rape and three for sexual assault.

The trial, which lasted since August 10 for multiple alleged sexual crimes against 13 women, has been, according to the footballer himself, an "absolute hell".

The winger pointed out at the hearing that the accusations will haunt him "for life" and that his football career "is over."

Mendy had been accused of being a "predator" who turned seeking women for sex into a game, inviting young women into "toxic and dangerous" situations at "parties" at his mansion in Mottram St Andrew, near Prestbury.

The player was first arrested in November 2020, for the alleged rape of a 24-year-old woman at her home in October.

Mendy was released under surveillance before later being charged with sexually assaulting another woman, also a 24-year-old, two months later.

He was later accused of raping three other women, one of them a 17-year-old.

This situation led his club, Manchester City, the club to which he belongs, to suspend the player in August 2021. Released in early January 2022, he has since been under judicial control pending trial.

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