Manchester City Star Benjamin Mendy Faces Retrial Over 2 Rape Claims, Found Not Guilty On 6 Counts

Benjamin Mendy was cleared of one count of sexual assault and six counts of rape, but the Manchester City star has to face second trial on two other allegations.

The relief for the 28-year-old French defender comes after a six-month trial at Chester Crown Court, reported GOAL. Last week, Mendy covered his face with both hands when the jury foreman repeated "not guilty" to the six counts.

Jury members could not reach a majority verdict on one count of rape and one of attempted rape. It means that that a second trial will happen regarding the remaining cases. Asianet Newsabale reported that there would be a retrial related to those cases on June 26.

Louis Saha Matturie, who is Mendy’s co-accused, has also been found not guilty of three counts of rape. Mendy and Matturie, who have been on trial since Aug. 10, 2022, denied all of the allegations that were made against them. A jury of seven men and four women first went out to consider their verdicts on Dec. 5, 2022, with Friday seeing deliberations carry over into a fourteenth day.

Mendy, who was was found not guilty of one count of rape in September 2022, was suspended by Manchester City in August 2021 after he was first charged.

During the trial, prosecutors told the jury that Mendy was a "predator" who turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game. Jurors were also told by defence lawyers that the trial that involved money, sex and celebrity, had "all the makings of a good drama." But it came with a significant "plot twist" - that the accused were innocent. Legal teams for both the footballer and his friend argued each allegation was "riddled with inconsistencies and flaws."

Lisa Wilding KC, who was representing Matturie, told jurors that it was "chillingly easy" to make false allegations. She suggested that all the women involved were in some way connected through friendships, social media or by attending parties. "Regret" at having "quick, animalistic sex" was not the same as being raped, said Mendy's lawyer Eleanor Laws KC, Jury members were told not to take a "moralistic" approach to the defendants' sexual lifestyles, according to BBC.

The seven men and four women on the jury delivered the unanimous not guilty verdicts on Wednesday. The verdicts could not be reported until jury members concluded considering the remaining two counts. They were given a majority direction by Judge Steven Everett, meaning that he would accept a 10-1 majority on any verdict.

But after 14 days of deliberation, jurors could not reach verdicts on Mendy's alleged attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman in 2018 and the alleged rape of another 24-year-old woman in October 2020. The jury also failed to reach a verdict on three counts of sexual assault and three counts of rape against Matturie. Everett discharged the jury on Friday, which means it's the end the trial.