Europe 1 with AFP 7:31 p.m., September 13, 2022
Due to lack of sufficient evidence provided by the prosecution, one of the eight rape charges against world football champion Benjamin Mendy, currently on trial in England, has been dropped.
His co-defendant, Louis Saha Matturie, was also found not guilty of two rapes and a sexual assault on the same woman.
One of eight rape charges against world football champion Benjamin Mendy, currently on trial in England, has been dropped for lack of sufficient evidence from the prosecution, Judge Stephen Everett announced on Tuesday.
His co-defendant, Louis Saha Matturie was also found not guilty of two rapes and a sexual assault on the same woman.
The facts took place in July and August 2021.
Mendy remains charged with seven rapes, one attempted rape and one sexual assault
The 28-year-old French defender, suspended for a year by Manchester City, has been on trial since early August in Chester, northern England, and remains charged with seven rapes, one attempted rape and one sexual assault against seven women.
Saha Matturie, who has no connection with former footballer Louis Saha, remains charged with six rapes and three sexual assaults.
Both men deny all charges.
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Returning from the court's lunch break, prosecutor Timothy Cray announced to the court that he was giving up on obtaining a conviction for the facts concerning victim number seven, who had been questioned in the morning.
Judge Stephen Everett then ordered the jury to enter a verdict of not guilty on the relevant counts.
Messages sent to Saha Matturie
Before the break, defense lawyers had seriously questioned the qualification of rape when questioning the victim in the morning.
According to the British press, the debates had in particular revolved around a video of the antics between the accuser and Louis Saha Matturie of which she denied having known the existence, but on which we would however see her looking several times in the direction of the telephone with which it had been recorded, held by Saha Matturie.
She had also been questioned about messages, especially while she was on vacation, that she had sent to Saha Matturie after the rapes of which she accused him.
More than four months in pre-trial detention
Winner of the 2018 World Cup with the France team, where he was a substitute, Benjamin Mendy spent more than four months, from August 2021 to January 2022, in pre-trial detention.
Released in early January, he was placed under judicial supervision pending trial.
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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.