As the court ruling was announced, Benjamin Mendy placed both hands on his face, rocking back and forth slightly.

After five months of trial, the French international footballer was declared not guilty of six rapes and a sexual assault, Friday January 13, by British justice.

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 will thus be retried for two to three weeks from June 26 for these last charges, announced judge Steven Everett.

A procedural hearing is scheduled for January 27.

The defender, 2018 world champion with the Blues, had appeared since early August.

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

His co-defendant 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.

After four months of hearings, the jury, made up of eight men and four women, retired to deliberate on December 5, but talks were halted several times due to Covid-19 cases and then for a scheduled break. for a long time, before a truce during the holiday season.

Manchester City take note

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 they were "not in a position to comment further" as the case is not closed.

Benjamin Mendy was incarcerated at the end of August 2021 and spent more than four months in pretrial 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

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