Acquitted in January of most of the charges against him, French international footballer Benjamin Mendy is back in front of British justice on Monday to be retried for rape and attempted rape.
After five months of trial and 14 days of deliberation, the 28-year-old French international was found not guilty of six rapes and one sexual assault at the end of January.
However, the jury failed to reach a verdict on two charges, involving the rape of a 24-year-old woman in October 2020 and the attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman in 2018, which will be reconsidered for three weeks. in Chester (north of England).
After the verdict was announced, the lawyer for the Manchester City player, world champion in 2018, Jenny Wiltshire, stressed that he was “eager to clear his name” so that he could “start to rebuild his life”.
The defender with 10 selections with the Blues, suspended by his Manchester City club which did not renew his contract which expires on June 30, risked life imprisonment.
At the hearing, which began last August, the prosecution presented Benjamin Mendy as a “predator” who abused “vulnerable, terrified and isolated” victims.
The footballer denied having been “a danger to women”, claiming to have only had consensual sex.
His co-accused Louis Saha Matturie (unrelated to former footballer Louis Saha), presented as his tout, was found not guilty of three rape charges and the jury did not reach a verdict for three others charges of rape and three of sexual assault.
After four months of hearings, the jury, made up of eight men and four women, had retired to deliberate on December 5, but the discussions had been interrupted several times due to cases of Covid-19 and then for a scheduled break of long date, before a truce during the holiday season.
Winner of the 2018 World Cup with the France team, where he was a substitute, Benjamin Mendy was imprisoned at the end of August 2021 and spent more than four months in pre-trial detention.
Released in early January 2022, he had been placed under judicial supervision pending trial.
Trained in Le Havre, revealed in Marseille and spent a season with Monaco, Benjamin Mendy became the most expensive defender in history in 2017 when the Citizens paid 52 million pounds (about 61.4 million euros at the current price). ) to secure his services.
06/26/2023 03:54:00 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
