Benjamin Mendy rape cases – the definitive timeline

Benjamin Mendy was acquitted on Friday, unanimously, by the jurors of the court of Chester (England), as part of a second trial into allegations that he raped several women. Placed in police custody in August 2021, the Frenchman was accused of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. Here are the key milestones in the affair.

August 26, 2021: arrested by the authorities in Cheshire, the county where he then resided in England, Benjamin Mendy is taken into police custody and charged on four counts of rape and one charge of sexual assault, pertaining to three alleged victims.

December 23, 2021: Mendy is moved to Strangeways High Security Prison, Manchester, and faces three new rape charges.

January 7, 2022: Mendy is released on parole, under strict supervision at his home.

May 23, 2022: Mendy pleads not guilty to nine counts of sexual offences, an attempted rape having been added to the list of charges.

June 1, 2022: Mendy faces a new rape charge, the eighth overall, in addition to suspicions of attempted rape and sexual assault. That is, in the end, a total of ten counts of sexual offenses, made by seven different complainants, between October 2018 and August 2021.

August 10, 2022: initially scheduled for the end of July, the trial of Mendy and co-accused Louis Saha Matturie finally begins at Chester Crown Court. It is due to last 15 weeks.

August 15, 2022: in his introductory summary, prosecutor Timothy Cray presents Mendy as a “predator”. The testimonies of the alleged victims follow.

September 13, 2022: After the defence’s case is heard, four charges brought by one of the complainants (one rape charge against Mendy, two rape charges and one sexual assault charge against Saha Matturie) are dropped.

November 7, 2022: for the first time since the start of the case, Mendy takes the floor to give his version of the facts, where he disputes the charges: “In my social life, there are many things that I have done wrong. But I did nothing wrong with women,” he says. He was in tears the following day.

November 14, 2022: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, one of the twelve witnesses called by the defence, comes to testify by video.

December 5, 2022: almost four months after the opening statements, the jury retires to deliberate.

January 13, 2023: Benjamin Mendy is unanimously declared not guilty of six rapes, allegedly committed against four women, and one of sexual assault, against a fifth woman. On the other hand, no verdict is rendered on the seventh charge of rape and that of attempted rape.

April 25, 2023: announcement of a new trial, relating to these last two undecided charges and set for the end of June at the request of the prosecution.

June 26, 2023: the start of Benjamin Mendy’s second trial for the last two charges against the French defender, for rape and attempted rape.

June 30, 2023: the fifth day of the trial is marked by the broadcast of the testimony of the first complainant, who accuses the player of attempted rape, which he denies. She explains: “I just tried to struggle to get out of it. I kept saying ‘stop’ and ‘no’, but I was not heard.”

July 3, 2023: after a break for the weekend, the trial resumes on Monday with this time the dissemination of messages between the second plaintiff, who claims to have been raped, and her relatives. In particular, one message reads: “I was just saying, ‘I don’t want to sleep with you.’ And he answered me: “It’s good, it’s fine.”” She also says: “Indeed, I didn’t have sex that night, I was raped. There is a difference for me,” which Mendy denies.

July 10, 2023: for the first time since the start of this second trial, Benjamin Mendy gives his version of the facts, denying any form of wrongdoing. He says about one of the two complainants, the one accusing him of attempted rape: “I didn’t force anything, she had her arms around me, I had my arms around her.” Regarding his accusation of rape, the French defended himself from claims that any wrongdoing occurred following her during the refusal to sleep with him: “I told her that there was no problem. The next day, I arranged for a driver to take her home.”

July 13, 2023: the French player’s lawyer affirms during his statements that Mendy “is not a sexual predator.” They adds that the two stories “were a myriad of lies and inconsistencies, littered with omissions.”

July 14, 2023: a few hours after retiring to deliberate, the jurors of the Chester court unanimously acquitted Benjamin Mendy of the last two charges against him: rape and attempted rape.

GFFN | James Thorpe