"Alhamdulillah"... Benjamin Mendy Almost In Tears As He Responds To Being Cleared Of Rape And Attempted Rape.

 Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of rape and attempted rape by a jury at Chester Crown Court, northwest England following a retrial.

The former Manchester City footballer, who has been released by the club, had been accused of attacking two women at his mansion during the pandemic, and he continually denied the charges levelled against him.

The 28-year-old, was found not guilty by the jury of six men and six women at Chester Crown Court. He said the encounters had been consensual.

The court heard Mendy had met a British student in a nightclub in Barcelona in 2017. She became close with a friend of Mendy’s and arranged to visit him at the footballer’s home the following year.

After a night out she alleged Mendy tried to rape her.

But the footballer told the jury:

“I asked her if we are OK to have sex. She told me, ‘No’ because of my friend. “I was like, ‘It’s fine, my friend says it’s OK, so if you want, he’s OK with that. It’s when she started to be like that – upset, sad. I just left the room. I will never force to have sex with a woman.”

Benjamin Mendy responds to not guilty verdict 🎙 pic.twitter.com/juh9QrpLPT

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 14, 2023

Mendy became the Premier League’s most expensive defender when City paid £52m to Monaco for him in 2017.

He won three titles with City and was part of France’s World Cup-winning squad in 2018.

The defender was last month released by Man City at the end of his contract having been suspended by the Premier League champions at the time of his arrest in August 2021.

This is the second time Mr Mendy has been tried and found not guilty by the jury. He is delighted that both jurors reached the correct verdict.

He needed a retrial for the two counts and a jury deliberated for three hours before clearing him of both counts on Friday.

A statement was read outside court on behalf of Benjamin Mendy. pic.twitter.com/uffiqehLct

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 14, 2023