Former Manchester City and France footballer Benjamin Mendy
broke down in tears on Friday, as a UK jury cleared him of s___x offences,
ending a three-year court ordeal.
Mendy, 28, put his head on his knees and wiped away tears on
hearing the verdict at the end of the three-week trial at Chester Crown Court
in northwest England.
The jury of six men and six women took around three hours
and 15 minutes to reach their not guilty verdicts on one count of rape and
another of attempted rape.
The star footballer, who would have faced a lengthy jail term if convicted, had previously being cleared in January of six counts of rape and one of s____xual assault following a six-month trial.
But jurors in that trial had been unable to reach a verdict
on two other counts resulting in a retrial.
Mendy, whose contract with Manchester City expired at the
end of June, had denied all the charges against him.
He was accused alongside Louis Saha Matturie, 41, an alleged
“fixer”, who was found not guilty by the jury at the earlier trial of three
counts of rape relating to two teenagers.
Jurors also failed to reach verdicts on three counts of rape
and three counts of s____xual assault against Matturie by five other women.
He faces a separate retrial later this year.
The prosecution had alleged that Mendy was a s___xual
“predator” who raped or s__xually assaulted young women procured by Matturie at
parties at his luxury home south of Manchester.
But Mendy denied ever forcing any woman into s__x and both
said any s___xual activity they had with women was consensual.
Mendy, a record signing for a defender when he moved to
Manchester City from French club Monaco in 2017, played 75 times for City.
But his playing time was limited by injuries and a loss of
form.
The last of his 10 caps for France came in November 2019,
after the defender won the World Cup with the national side in 2018.
The trials meant that he missed Manchester City’s treble
last season of the English Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
The footballer’s lawyers said in a statement after the
verdict that he was “delighted” to have been acquitted in both trials.
“Benjamin Mendy would like to thank the members of the jury
for focusing on the evidence in this trial rather than the rumour and innuendo
that has followed this case from the outset,” they added.
“This is the second time that Mr Mendy has been tried and
found not guilty by a jury. He is delighted that both juries reached the
correct verdicts.
“It has been almost three years since the police started
investigating this matter. Mr Mendy has tried to remain strong but the process
has, inevitably had a serious impact on him.
“He thanks everyone who has supported him throughout this
ordeal and now asks for privacy so he can begin rebuilding his life.”
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com