Starrys Obazei/January 13, 2023.
Benjamin Mendy, Manchester City’s defender, whose contract expires this summer, has been found not guilty of seven of the nine charges against him.
After a trial lasting almost five months, the defender has been cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault.
However, after 13 days of deliberation at Chester Crown Court, the jury has been unable to reach verdicts on two other charges against Mendy – one count of rape, involving a woman aged 24 in October 2020, and one count of attempted rape, involving a woman aged 29 in October 2018.
The Crown Prosecution Service has seven days to decide whether to pursue a retrial on the two charges where a verdict could not be agreed upon.
Mendy held his head in his hands as the verdicts were read out.
Mendy’s co-accused, Louis Saha Matturie, has been found not guilty of three charges.
He faces a possible retrial on six charges.
Manchester City suspended Mendy when he was arrested in August 2021 and stopped paying him in September 2021.