Friday, January 13, 2023 at 3:55 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 15:58

Benjamin Mendy has been acquitted by a court in Chester, England, of a total of seven of nine charges of rape and sexual assault. Of the two cases for which Mendy has not (yet) been acquitted, a verdict has yet to be made, because the jury was not unanimous. As a result, Mendy has to report to court again and the lingering lawsuit is not yet over. The Frenchman has not taken action for his employer Manchester City since August 2021 because of the case.

Mendy was charged with seven counts of alleged rape against four different women, attempted rape against a fifth woman, and one count of sexual assault against a sixth woman. The jury failed to unanimously agree on a case of possible rape and a case of possible attempted rape. Manchester City leaves in a short statement whether Mendy is welcome again, after he has been largely acquitted of the charges. “As there are still outstanding cases in this matter, the club is not in a position to comment further at this time.” The 28-year-old defender appeared emotional in court and has always maintained that the sex with the women was consensual.

The cases took place between 2018 and 2021, including while England was under a lockdown due to the corona pandemic. At his villa in Cheshire, Mendy hosted parties, where he had sex with the women in question. After Mendy was charged in the summer of 2021, City suspended him indefinitely. During a court case in August, vehement details emerged. For example, Mendy would have led the women to ‘panic rooms’ in his villa, to rape them there if they did not want to have sex with him. Mendy found many of those women in nightclubs in Manchester, often with the help of so-called ‘fixer’ Louis Saha Matturie.

Mendy’s 41-year-old friend also stood trial and was acquitted of three charges of rape and abuse. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on six other cases, so a final verdict on those cases has yet to be reached. Two of the women had told police they were ‘exchanged’ at the footballer’s villa by Mendy and Matturie. Five women said they were raped or sexually assaulted by Mendy alone, while six women said they had experienced the same thing with Matturie. Matturie couldn’t hold back his tears when he heard the verdict. Mendy’s new trial will take place on June 26, while Matturie is due the week of September 18.