Accused of rape, footballer Benjamin Mendy released on bail

In pre-trial detention since the end of August, French footballer Benjamin Mendy has regained his freedom. The French international defender Manchester City has been released on bail, the Crown Court in Chester (north-west of England) announced on Friday.

On December 22, the court announced that the 27-year-old footballer had been charged with an additional rape of a new plaintiff, for acts which allegedly took place in July this year. He is now the target of seven counts of rape out of four women and one count of sexual assault on a fifth, for facts which would extend between October 2020 and August 2021.

The case started at the end of August when the Manchester City club announced the player’s suspension without further explanation. English justice then quickly announced that the 2018 world champion had been remanded in custody after being accused of four rapes – including one committed a few days earlier, while on parole – and sexual assault, by three women, one of whom is a minor. These first events are said to have taken place at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire. British justice has not given more details on the other three rapes he is accused of having committed.

Benjamin Mendy appeared on December 22 for 40 minutes in Chester Crown Court before being remanded in custody in a Liverpool prison pending trial, postponed to the summer (June 27 or August 1). It was originally scheduled for January 24. A preliminary hearing is however maintained on this date.

The maximum penalty he incurs, if he pleads not guilty, is life imprisonment. And even if he avoids such a sentence, a conviction could earn him several years behind bars and an immediate end of his career.

These charges are a new blow to the career of the player, held back for four years, first by injuries and now by this legal process. When he arrived at City, where he had a year and a half left on his contract, he was, however, one of the great French and world hopes as left-back.

Trained in Le Havre, revealed in Marseille and spent a season with Monaco, he became the most expensive defender in history in 2017 when the Citizens did not hesitate to pay 52 million pounds (around 60 million euros) to secure its services.