Wissam Ben Yedder sentenced to two years in prison in his sexual assault case

Le Figaro Nice

Former AS Monaco player Wissam Ben Yedder was sentenced on Tuesday to a two-year suspended prison sentence for sexual assault while drunk followed by a refusal to comply when he tried to escape from the gendarmes in Cap d'Ail (Alpes-Maritimes), the place where he lives and where during one evening, he fell a little more into the shadows after having experienced the light on the grounds. When the decision was rendered, the former French international was absent, as were his lawyers.

The Nice prosecutor's office had requested two and a half years in prison, of which one year was “adjustable” on October 15 at the end of a two-hour hearing during which Wissam Ben Yedder (34) explained that he did not remember “Nothing”.

On the night of September 6 to 7, the former Monegasque captain, now without a contract, was unrecognizable, first alone in his vehicle drinking whiskey-cola bought a little earlier in a supermarket. Parked in the parking lot of a beach in Cap d'Ail, a border town with the Principality, he met a group of five young individuals with whom he spent part of his evening. Two of them got into his car and after dropping off a certain Mehdi, with whom he had become friends, Wissam Ben Yedder found himself alone with Diana S., the 23-year-old complainant.

This young woman, in tears during her testimony at the bar, had only confirmed her very precise first statements. Wissam Ben Yedder then took him to his house and once in his garage, he went to the back to try to kiss him by force. After passing his hand between her thighs and trying several times to touch her breast, he masturbated while the young woman claims to have made him understand that she was not interested.

Diana S. finally managed to escape and hide behind a trash can, as confirmed by video surveillance images. Wissam Ben Yedder then got back behind the wheel while drunk, his empty bottle of whiskey still in his car, before the gendarmes tried to arrest him. On board his Peugeot 208 at the exit of a roundabout, he refused to stop and accelerated. He ended up being arrested at his home, in his parking lot.

“Refugee behind alcohol”

During the trial, “WBY” provided little new information on the facts, relying on recognizing excessive alcohol consumption as proof of unhappiness and a descent into hell in recent months. “It’s because of alcohol that I have problems”he repeated to the president who was surprised several times by this attitude. “I thought it could do me good, it made me forget, it helped me stop thinking”explained the footballer in full decline. «Solitaire», “refugee behind alcohol” : “When I drink, I’m no longer myself”insisted the former Monaco star scorer (118 goals in 201 matches).

The complainant described him as someone “bipolar” that evening, going from joviality to aggression. “I was scared”she said with red eyes, swearing not to have recognized him. “We are in the middle of sexual assault, Mr. Ben Yedder took him for a piece of meat”had denounced the prosecutor, getting annoyed at a trial which could have drifted towards that of alcohol.

The ex-striker had confided that he was undergoing treatment at the Nice hospital and had registered with the Alcoholics Anonymous association: “The darkest period of his life”these lawyers had argued, ensuring that this case was “an electroshock” for the player, who would, according to them, still be courted by major European clubs.

But Wissam Ben Yedder (19 caps with the France team) is not done with justice. On December 27, he will appear for psychological violence against his wife, with whom he is in the process of a complicated divorce. A rape case concerning him and his brother, during an evening at a nightclub in Monaco, is still under investigation. Which seems to permanently distance this player, who was renowned for his technique, from the green rectangles.

For refusing to comply, he was fined 5,000 euros and had his license suspended for six months. He will have to pay 6,500 euros to the victim. In addition to a five-year ineligibility and an obligation to undergo treatment, Wissam Ben Yedder is now registered in the file of perpetrators of sexual assault (Fijais).