The Manchester City player had been retried since the end of June on two charges for which the jury had not reached a verdict after his first trial, where he had already been acquitted.
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Benjamin Mendy was found not guilty of rape and attempted rape on Friday July 14 by British justice, five months after being acquitted of six other rape charges and one of sexual assault. He had been retried since the end of June in Chester, in the north of England, for two charges for which the jury had not reached a verdict at the end of the first trial. The 28-year-old French footballer was charged with the rape of a 24-year-old woman in October 2020 and the attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman two years earlier, charges he strongly contested.
The jury delivered its verdict after just over three hours of deliberation. Benjamin Mendy burst into tears during the announcement. “Benjamin Mendy wishes to thank the members of the jury for focusing on the evidence in this trial, rather than the rumors and innuendo that have followed this case from the start”said Jenny Wiltshire, one of his lawyers, quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
The world champion, ssuspended by his club Manchester City, who did not renew his contract which expires on June 30, had been incarcerated at the end of August 2021 and had spent more than four months in pretrial detention. He was released in early January 2022 and placed under judicial supervision pending his first trial.