Former Man City defender Benjamin Mendy cleared of rape and attempted rape

The 28-year-old broke down in tears as the not-guilty verdicts were given.

PA Reporters
Friday 14 July 2023 15:42 BST
Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy arrives at Chester Crown Court (Peter Powell/PA)
Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy arrives at Chester Crown Court (Peter Powell/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Former Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of raping a young woman and the attempted rape of another.

The 28-year-old broke down in tears as the not-guilty verdicts were given by the jury foreman following a three-week trial at Chester Crown Court.

He had stood for the verdicts but sank to his seat, his head on his knees, wiping away tears with a white tissue.

Mendy, whose contract with the Premier League champions ended on July 1, was cleared of attempting to rape a woman, aged 29 at the time, at his £4million mansion in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire in October 2018.

He was also found not guilty of the rape of a second woman, aged 24, two years later also at his home address.

The 10-cap France international is alleged to have later told her “it’s fine, I’ve had sex with 10,000 women”, the court heard.

The jury of six men and six women were out for around three hours and 15 minutes before returning their verdicts.

Judge Steven Everett responded: “Mr Mendy can be discharged from the dock.”

His trial was a retrial, having been cleared by a jury earlier this year of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, relating to four young women or teenagers, following a six-month trial.

Jurors failed to reach verdicts on the two counts of rape and attempted rape he was retried with.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in