the French Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy, 27, was charged with an additional rape, when he appeared before an English court on Wednesday.
The Crown Court in Chester (north-west of England), postponed his trial, announced Wednesday during his appearance that the 2018 world champion had been charged with an additional rape of a new plaintiff, for facts which would have taken place in July of this year.
With this new charge added by the Crown Court of Chester (west of England), Benjamin Mendy, world champion in 2018, is now targeted by seven counts of rape and one of sexual assault, on four women and one count of sexual assault on a fifth, for facts which would extend between October 2020 and August 2021.
Benjamin Mendy only spoke to confirm his name
In pre-trial detention since the end of August, the footballer appeared on Wednesday for forty minutes in court at Crown Court in Chester. Benjamin Mendy only spoke to confirm his name and followed the procedure through a translator.
Judge Patrick Thompsons has placed the footballer in pre-trial detention in a Liverpool prison pending trial, postponed to the summer (June 27 or August 1) after being initially scheduled for January 24. A preliminary hearing is however maintained on this date, and another has been scheduled for January 7.
Maximum penalty incurred? Perpetuity
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 player 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 including a minor.
These first events are said to have taken place at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire. The British justice did not give more details on the new facts which are reproached to him. Benjamin Mendy should soon make it known whether he pleaded guilty or not guilty to the new charges of rape. 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.