Benjamin Mendy cleared of six counts of rape and sex assault

Benjamin Mendy will face a new trial on one count of rape and one count of attempted rape after a jury failed to reach a verdict as he was acquitted of seven other charges.

The 28-year-old Manchester City star, sitting in the dock at Chester Crown Court, covered his face with both hands and rocked gently from side to side as the foreman of the jury, who delivered the verdicts in a silent courtroom, he repeated ‘not guilty’ to six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, involving four young women or teenagers.

However, the jury was unable to reach verdicts on another charge of rape and attempted sexual assault, which allegedly took place at Mendy’s £4.7m mansion in Prestbury, Cheshire.

He will now face a three-week trial on the two pending charges beginning June 26.

Unanimous verdicts were returned today by all seven men and four women on the jury, as one of the jurors was previously discharged for medical reasons.

Mendy’s lawyer, Jenny Wiltshire, said the footballer was “delighted” to have been acquitted of sexually assaulting four women and “hopes” to clear his name in a new trial on the other two charges and “put his life back together”.

She said: ‘My client Benjamin Mendy would like to thank the jurors for their dedication and commitment.

He also thanks everyone who supported him, and in particular the witnesses who testified on his behalf under the glare of such intense publicity. He hopes to clear his name in connection with the other two charges so he can start to rebuild his life.”

A Manchester City spokesperson said: “We note the verdict of Chester Crown Court today, where a jury found Benjamin Mendy not guilty on seven counts. The jury is pending on two counts and the trial is over.

“As there are open matters relating to this case, the club is not in a position to comment further at this time.”

Judge Steven Everett told the court: ‘The prosecution has made a decision. We have made a decision today, which is to proceed with these charges in two separate trials and we are seeking an interim case management today.

Louis Saha Matturie, 41, a co-defendant and alleged “fixer” for Mendy, was found not guilty by a jury on three counts of rape involving two teenagers. Jurors also failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against him by five other women.

The trial, which was due to begin last January, lasted nearly six months, with a jury of eight men and four women hearing a series of alleged sexual offenses against 13 original complainants.

The accusations and trial had been “absolute hell” for Mendy, the court heard, and his life in football “is over” as he would “never escape” the accusations.

Mendy had been accused of being a ‘predator’ who turned seeking women for sex into a game, the trial was heard, drinking champagne in VIP areas of Manchester nightclubs before inviting young women into ‘toxic situations’. and dangerous’ at ‘after parties’. ‘ at his £4.7m Cheshire mansion in Mottram St Andrew, near Prestbury.

Timothy Cray KC, the prosecutor, said Matturie, known as Saha, was Mendy’s ‘friend and fixer’ and used a £2,000-a-month rented flat in Salford to host parties. Mendy also paid her £17,000 for her services over the course of a year.

Cray said Matturie’s job was to find young women for Mendy and “create situations where they could be raped and abused.”

He told the jury: ‘The acts the defendants did together show a callous disregard for the women they were persecuting. In their minds, and this could not be clearer, the stream of women they brought into their homes existed solely to be persecuted for sexual purposes.

But defense attorneys told jurors that while the trial, which involved money, sex and celebrity, had “all the makings of a good drama,” it came with a significant “plot twist”: The defendants were innocent.

The lockdown break parties were held both at Mendy’s home and at a flat she rented on Chapel Street near Manchester city centre, the court heard.

He was first arrested in November 2020 following the alleged triple rape of a 24-year-old woman at his home the previous month.

Mendy was released under investigation before later being charged with sexually assaulting another woman, 24, two months later, and while on police bail for that offence, he was accused of raping three other women, one 17 years, all crimes of which he was acquitted.

Mendy was suspended by his club in August 2021, after being accused of rape.

Lisa Wilding KC, representing Matturie, suggested that all of the women involved were connected in some way through friendships, social media, or attending parties.

Jurors were told not to take a “self-righteous” approach to the defendants’ sexual lifestyles, and the Cheshire Police approach was also criticized in court.

Eleanor Laws KC, defending Mendy, suggested that “regretting” having “quick, animal sex” is not the same as being raped.

Wilding said the defendants’ sexual habits and lifestyles did not make them rapists.

The lawyer told the jury that there was “a tangled web of contact, collusion and contamination” among the 12 plaintiffs.

Ms Wilding said the plaintiffs in this case had actively pursued sex with men they barely knew and that it is their right, but may suffer pain and embarrassment afterward.

Both defense attorneys noted that evidence from one complainant, a 19-year-old who said she had been raped by both Mendy and Matturie, proved unreliable when a sex tape was released, helping to weaken the rest of the case against the man. two men.

Matturie filmed mobile phone video showing him and the teen having sex in the Chapel Street apartment that the complainant said was rape.

The disclosure of the tape mid-trial by Matturie’s defense team led to the drop of one rape charge against Mendy and two rape plus one sexual assault charges against Matturie.

Ms Wilding said: “For 56 minutes he sat there and gave a lying account. I suggest that the witness’s ability to lie, deceive and embellish was quite a lot.

“We’ve come a long way from the dark ages of ‘I was wearing a short skirt, so I was asking for it.’ Hopefully we’ve left that far behind.

‘Young women are sexually liberated, independent and use their bodies as they wish. They carry the banner of sexual freedom but that also carries responsibility.

“That’s not to say that what they do and how they choose to do it can’t be seen in the context of this case.”

Mendy had denied seven counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against six young women, between October 2018 and August 2021.

Matturie, from Eccles, Salford, denied six charges of rape and three charges of sexual assault relating to seven young women, between July 2012 and August 2021.