Why is Benjamin Mendy not in FIFA?

Manchester City full-back Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of raping four women and sexually assaulting another.

The World Cup winner found out the verdict on Friday at Chester Crown Court, following a five-month court case, and slumps back in his seat on hearing the news, according to the Guardian.

Mendy was “unanimously cleared of six counts of rape and one sexual assault,” however he will have to go to trial for a second time.

The jury did not reach a verdict on a further rape charge and a separate charge of attempted rape, meaning he will return to the same court on June 26th.

Mendy was on trial along with co-accused, Louis Saha Matturie, and between them, the pair had been accused by 13 women of sexual offences.

Mattie, known as the Manchester City player’s ‘fixer,’ for arranging women to come to parties at his Cheshire house, was found not guilty of three charges of rape involving two women.

He will also face a further trial, relating to four alleged rapes of three women and the alleged sexual assault of two other women.

Both men have denied all the offences.

The incidents were all regarding parties at the player’s £4.8 million mansion that took place between October 2018 and August 2021.

Some of the parties were illegal, having taken place during Covid lockdowns.

Partway through the trial Judge Steven Everett, who earlier in the week said he would accept a majority decision from the jury, told the jurors to Mendy and Matturie were not guilty of the rape of a 19-year-old woman.

That was after a video emerged of her having “enthusiastic and obviously consensual sex” with the 41-year-old ‘fixer.’

In her closing argument, defence lawyer Eleanor Laws KC told the jury, “What you have actually seen with your own eyes in this case is – I hesitate to use the word – a real-life liar.

“Someone who has made serious criminal allegations against two men. And you have watched it play out, unusually, in front of your eyes.”

They used that element of doubt over one woman’s ‘lies’ to suggest that the others could therefore have followed suit.

Prosecuting lawyer Timothy Cray KC said in his closing speech, “For all the good side of Benjamin Mendy’s character, there’s this dangerous streak which makes him a predatory serial rapist.

“We all know that celebrity is absolutely no guarantee of true good character, is it?

“In fact, celebrity, in general, is a really good cover for people to hide the dark side of their life and get away with it.

“Jimmy Savile fooled the whole nation with his celebrity.”