The unanimous not-guilty verdicts were delivered on Wednesday but could not be reported until jurors had concluded deliberating on the two remaining charges Mendy faces.

Manchester City football player Benjamin Mendy has been found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against four young women at Cheshire's Chester Crown Court in England.

Jurors failed to reach verdicts on one count of rape and another of attempted rape in Mendy’s trial, which began in August 2022. A retrial will take place in June.

Mendy’s friend and co-accused, 41-year-old Louis Saha Matturie, was also found not guilty of three counts of rape against two teenagers. The jury failed to also reach a verdict on three other counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault against Matturie, who will stand trial again in September.

Mendy, who has denied all allegations, and Matturie, had been accused of raping young women while hosting lurid, alcohol-fueled parties at the player’s Prestbury mansion in Cheshire, and at a Manchester flat.

During a six-month trial, prosecutors told the jury 28-year-old Mendy was a “predator” who turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game, but lawyers for both men argued each allegation was “riddled with inconsistencies and flaws”. 

Matturie’s lawyer Lisa Wilding KC told jurors it was “chillingly easy” to make false allegations and suggested all the women involved were in some way connected through friendships, social media, or by attending parties.

Mendy’s lawyer Eleanor Laws KC also suggested that “regret” at having “quick, animalistic sex” was not the same as being raped.

The defence lawyers told the jury, comprising of seven men and four women – one juror having been discharged earlier for medical reasons – not to take a “moralistic” approach to the defendants’ sexual lifestyles.

Manchester City, which suspended Mendy in August 2021 when the original charges against him were announced, said Friday it “notes the verdict from Chester Crown Court today, where a jury has found Benjamin Mendy not guilty of seven charges. The jury is hung on two charges and the trial is now over.”

“Given there are open matters related to this case, the Club is not in a position to comment further at this time,” the club added.