French football player, Benjamin Mendy, was in “absolute tears” after been cleared of one count of rape and one count of attempted rape following a retrial at Chester Crown Court.
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.
Mendy has continually denied the charges levelled against him.
The 28-year-old Mendy needed a retrial for the two counts and a jury deliberated for three hours before clearing him of both counts on Friday.
Earlier this year the footballer had been found not guilty of sexual offences against a number of women but the jury were unable to reach verdicts on the two charges.
At his retrial, prosecutors said Mendy would host parties and social gatherings at his home The Spinney while under contract at Manchester City.
READ ALSO: Benjamin Mendy Cleared Of One Rape Charge
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.”
Two years later, a woman was out with friends at a bar near Mendy’s home when they were invited back to the footballer’s house.
She alleged he took her phone from her and led her to a locked bedroom. Mendy threw the phone onto a bed and, as she went to retrieve it, Mendy is alleged to have raped her.
Mendy told the jury the two had a consensual sexual encounter and later swapped details on Snapchat.
He was asked whether he had held her down or forced her onto the bed. He said: “No.”
He told the jury: “I will never force to have sex with a woman.”
As the verdict was read out, Sky News reports that Mendy was in “absolute tears” before greeting the friends that had attended the trial to support him.
READ ALSO: Manchester City Release Benjamin Mendy As He Awaits Retrial For Rape
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.
He was released by the club when his contract expired at the end of June.
After leaving court, Mendy’s solicitor Jenny Wiltshire said in a statement: “Benjamin Mendy would like to thank the members of the jury for focusing on the evidence of this trial, rather than the rumour and innuendo that have followed this case from the outset.
“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.”