As the decision was announced, the 28-year-old Manchester City player placed both hands over his face, rocking back and forth slightly in the box at Chester court in northern England ).

After 14 days of deliberation, jurors acquitted him of six rapes and one sexual assault on four women.

But they failed to agree on a verdict on two other charges, one for rape of a 24-year-old woman in October 2020 and one for attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman in 2018.

Benjamin Mendy, world champion in 2018, will thus be retried for two to three weeks from June 26 for these charges, announced judge Steven Everett.

A procedural hearing is scheduled for January 27.

The defender with 10 selections with the Blues, suspended for more than a year by his club Manchester City, had appeared since the beginning of August.

Accused of seven rapes, an attempted rape and a sexual assault, he risked life imprisonment.

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 on three other charges. of rape and three of sexual assault.

French footballer Benjamin Mendy upon his arrival at court in Chester, northern England, December 5, 2022 © Oli SCARFF / AFP/Archives

Deliberate several times interrupted

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.

French international Benjamin Mendy in the Manchester City jersey during a Premier League match against Swansea on April 22, 2018 at the Etihad Stadium © Paul ELLIS / AFP/Archives

At the hearing, 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.

The Manchester club took note of Friday's verdict, but said it was "not in a position to comment further" as the case is not closed.

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 was placed under judicial supervision pending trial.

Defender Benjamin Mendy during a Nations League match for the France team against the Netherlands, September 9, 2018 at the Stade de France © Anne-Christine POUJOULAT / AFP/Archives

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.

© 2023 AFP