Benjamin Mendy found not guilty on six counts of rape and sexual assault
The Man City footballer will still have to face trial as the jury was unable to reach a verdict on two other charges.
Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty on seven of the charges against him, six for rape and another for sexual assault. The Manchester City defender had been described as “a predator” who “turned into a game the persecution of women for sexual purposes” and was interned in one of the most dangerous prisons in the United Kingdom, but has now received the verdict and has been cleared of charges of raping four women and sexually assaulting another during parties at his Cheshire mansion.
The former French international broke down in court and put his hands to his face when he heard that the Chester Crown Court had unanimously decided to free him of those seven charges. However, Mendy will have to face a new trial as the jury has failed to reach a verdict on one count of rape of a woman and on another of attempted rape.
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The City defender had testified in the trial, which has lasted for five months, that all the women who accused him of rape had wanted to have sexual relations with him and denied having groped the woman who accused him of sexual assault in the kitchen of his house.
Manchester City has issued a statement on its website about the case, although they clarify that they will not comment further until the matter is fully closed: "The club takes note of the verdict delivered today by the Chester Crown Court , where a jury has found Benjamin Mendy not guilty on seven counts. The jury is still out on two counts and the trial is over. As there are open issues related to this case, the club is not in a position to comment further at this time”.
Jury given two weeks
The jury was given 60 hours spread over 14 days to reach a decision on the seven counts of rape of which Mendy has been acquitted. Six women accused him of having assaulted them in his 5.5 million euro mansion between October 2018 and August 2021 - some of them during illegal parties held during the pandemic when restrictions on social gathering were still in place. The footballer acknowledged that it was “very easy” for him to flirt with women in nightclubs and then take them home because of his fame.
Among the complainants was a woman who was 17 years old at the time, but evidence from another 19-year-old girl caused the resolution of the case to accelerate involved. She had sued Mendy and Louis Saha Matturie, also acquitted of three counts of rape, but a video in which she is seen having “enthusiastic and obviously consensual sexual relations” with Matturie led Mendy’s legal team to spread the word. That instilled doubt among the jury, who suggested that if one woman had lied, the others could also have fabricated their accusations. The judge ordered the jury to find both Mendy and Matturie not guilty of the charges related to that young woman.
Mendy behind bars
Mendy’s time in prison has helped him “learn many things about life”. As he testified in court, sitting in his cell he realized that he could “hurt women’s feelings” even when we both “had agreed to have sex”. According to him, he understood that his way of talking about women was totally “disrespectful.”