2023-06-26 03:54:22
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.
Published on: 06/26/2023 – 03:54 Modified on: 06/26/2023 – 09:16
Benjamin Mendy again before the justice of the United Kingdom for rape and attempted rape. The French footballer, who has already been on trial for five months, was found not guilty at the end of January of six rapes and a sexual assault.
The jury did not reach a verdict on two charges, relating to 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 reexamined for three weeks. in Chester (north of England).
After the verdict was announced, Jenny Wiltshire, the lawyer for the Manchester City player, world champion in 2018, stressed that he was “eager to clear his name” so that he could “start to rebuild his life”.
The defender with ten selections with the Blues, suspended by his Manchester City club which did not renew his contract expiring on June 30, risked life imprisonment.
Only consensual sex, according to Benjamin Mendy
At the hearing, which began last August, the prosecution presented Benjamin Mendy as a “predator” who abused “vulnerable, terrified and isolated” victims. The footballer had denied having been a “danger to women”, claiming to have had only consensual sex.
French international footballer Benjamin Mendy arrives at court in Chester (United Kingdom), December 20, 2022. © Lindsey Parnaby, AFP (archives)
His co-accused Louis Saha Matturie (unrelated to former footballer Louis Saha), presented as his tout, had been found not guilty of three rape charges and the jury had not reached a verdict for three other rape charges. and three of sexual assault.
After four months of hearings, the jury, made up of eight men and four women, retired to deliberate on December 5, but the discussions had been interrupted several times due to cases of Covid-19 and then for a planned break from 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 had been imprisoned at the end of August 2021 and had 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.
With AFP
#Footballer #Benjamin #Mendy #court #rape #attempted #rape