French international Wissam Ben Yedder avoids pre-trial detention pending trial for “sexual assault while intoxicated”

The former AS Monaco striker was taken into custody on September 7 after being the subject of a complaint for sexual assault. He will be tried on October 15.

Former AS Monaco captain Wissam Ben Yedder, who is due to be tried on October 15 for sexual assault, will not be placed in pre-trial detention, AFP learned on Wednesday September 18 from the public prosecutor’s office of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal. The 34-year-old French striker, who has been without a club since his contract with Monaco expired in June, was arrested on the night of September 6 to 7, while driving a vehicle in Cap d’Ail, a town bordering the Principality.

A young woman in her twenties had just filed a complaint against him for sexual assault that evening. At the end of his police custody, Wissam Ben Yedder was summoned to stand trial on October 15 for “sexual assault while clearly intoxicated, refusal to comply and driving under the influence of alcohol.”

In the meantime, a psychological assessment of the victim must be established, and the player has been placed under judicial supervision. The Nice public prosecutor’s office had appealed the decision of the judge of liberties and detention (JLD), citing “real risk of flight” and ensuring that the pre-trial detention was “the only way to avoid any risk of pressure on the victim or witnesses” but also “to prevent the recurrence of the facts”.

On Wednesday, the investigating chamber of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal rejected this appeal, considering that the strict measures of judicial supervision were sufficient, namely the ban on leaving home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., the obligation to seek treatment, a check-in twice a week at the police station and the ban on leaving the department.

Furthermore, the footballer, who played for Toulouse, Seville and Monaco and has 19 caps for the French team, is under investigation for “rape, attempted rape and sexual assault” in another case, a case dating from the summer of 2023. Already placed under judicial supervision, he had then paid a bail of 900,000 euros to avoid detention.