On Friday September 6, during one of these multiple alcoholic evenings which have become his daily life, the 34-year-old met a woman in her twenties, who agreed to get into his car. There, he placed his hand on her thigh, tried to kiss her and masturbated in front of her. Shocked, she immediately filed a complaint and Ben Yedder, still at the wheel of his car, was arrested with difficulty during the night in Cap-d’Ail, a town bordering Monaco.
Ben Yedder “intends to take responsibility for his actions”
At the end of his police custody, he was summoned to appear before the criminal court for “sexual assault in a state of obvious intoxication”, punishable by 10 years in prison, but also for “refusing to comply and driving under the influence of an alcoholic state.
“Our client will attend the court hearing and intends to take responsibility for his actions,” declared the player’s two lawyers, Hasna Louzé and Marie Roumiantseva, who have already mentioned several times a problem with alcoholism. “Mr. Ben Yedder is contrite for having caused such a situation and is sincerely sorry for the complainant,” they added.
The case could have gone to immediate appearance but the trial was postponed to allow an assessment of the victim’s psychological damage.
In the meantime, the player, who no longer has a club since the expiration of his contract in Monaco this summer, has been subject to strict judicial control: ban on leaving the department or attending nightclubs, obligation to stay at his home from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., to report twice a week to the gendarmerie and to treat his alcohol addiction.
Tried for psychological violence
The prosecution had requested placement in pre-trial detention, citing risks of flight, pressure on the victim but also a repeat offense. Indeed, Wissam Ben Yedder was already under judicial supervision at the time of the events, after having paid bail of 900,000 euros: another young woman accuses him of rape during another too drunken evening during the summer of 2023. This file, in which he refutes the accusations, is still under investigation.
At the same time, Ben Yedder must also be tried at the end of December for psychological violence against his wife as part of difficult divorce proceedings initiated since May 2023. In addition, he was sentenced last year by the Seville court to six months suspended prison sentence and more than 130,000 euros fine for tax fraud, and proceedings also pit him against his former agent Meïssa Ndiaye. Far from the splendor of a professional football career which seems to be inexorably moving away…
Born in Sarcelles, in the Paris region, Wissam Ben Yedder came from futsal, a discipline to which he owes his technical ease and in which he was also international. He made his debut in professional football in Toulouse, before confirming in Seville then arriving in Monaco in 2019.
In five years and 201 matches, he scored 118 goals in the Monegasque jersey, making him the second scorer in the history of the club of which he was captain for a long time.
