French footballer Benjamin Mendy Will Be Retried on Sexual Offense Charges

Five months after a jury absolved him of several other charges, French footballer Benjamin Mendy will return to a UK courtroom on Monday to begin his retrial for two alleged sexual offenses.

Mendy, a 28-year-old player for Manchester City, will be back in court at Chester Crown Court in northwest England to answer to two rape and attempted rape charges.

His most recent trial, which concluded in January, resulted in no judgments from the jury on the two accusations involving two distinct women.

After a six-month trial, the panel of seven men and four women exonerated the defense attorney of six further charges of rape and one charge of sexual assault against four women.

The two charges on which the jury was unable to reach a decision were given a new trial date by the court in January, which was scheduled for Monday.

Mendy has refuted all of the accusations leveled against him. His contract with Manchester City ends at the end of this month, and it is apparently not going to be extended.

In court in January, Mendy covered his face with both hands as the not-guilty verdicts were announced, slowly swaying back and forth.

One of his attorneys, Jenny Wiltshire, said at the time that the football player was “delighted” to have been cleared of the majority of the allegations he faced.

She continued at the time by saying he was looking forward to “clearing his name in relation to the other two charges so he can start rebuilding his life”.

Charges of being a “predator”

Mendy was charged with three charges of rape involving two teens, along with 41-year-old suspected “fixer” Louis Saha Matturie, who was found not guilty by the jury.

Three charges of rape and three counts of sexual assault against Matturie by five other women were also left unresolved by the jury.

Later this year, he will stand trial again separately.

At parties held at Matturie’s opulent mansion south of Manchester, the prosecution said that Mendy was a sexual “predator” who raped or abused young ladies who had been lured there by Matturie.

Mendy said that they never forced any woman into having sex, and both claimed that all of their relationships with women were voluntary.

Mendy transferred from the French club Monaco to Manchester City in 2017. He has participated in 75 games for City, although injuries and a decline in form cut into his playing time.

He last participated in competitive play on August 15, 2021, only days before being charged with four charges of rape and one count of sexual assault.

The defender won the World Cup in 2018, and his last of 10 appearances for France occurred in November of that same year.