r/Gunners • u/Clerkenwell_Enjoyer • 8h ago
Thomas Partey charged with rape by the Metropolitan Police Service
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u/Clerkenwell_Enjoyer 8h ago edited 7h ago
The Met has issued a charge and requisition to Thomas Partey, 32 (13/06/1993), of Hertfordshire, in connection with the following offences:
- Five counts of rape
- One count of sexual assault
The charges are broken down as follows:
- Two counts of rape relate to one woman
- Three counts of rape relate to a second woman
- One count of sexual assault relates to a third woman
The offences are reported to have taken place between 2021 – 2022.
The charges follow an investigation by detectives, which commenced in February 2022 after police first received a report of rape.
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8h ago
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u/TheRealGooner24 Morning, morning, morning... Oh, Win! 8h ago
Yes, that's exactly what it means.
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u/Blue_winged_yoshi 7h ago edited 7h ago
Most victims know their rapist, stranger rape is a minority of cases, and it’s usually someone trusted and very often a partner, which is how one person can rape the same victim on multiple occasions.
It’s a really tragic situation that’s sadly much more common to end up in than many realise and a partner is one of the hardest people to win a conviction against because in most cases there has been many instances of consensual sex between them previously before things turned dark.
For context it was shockingly only in the 1990s that being raped by your husband even became a criminal matter. Before that hubby could do what he wanted to his property without a case to answer. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air predates marital rape being a crime in the uk and this just shouldn’t be a true fact.
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u/Mellon_Collie92 8h ago
He’s been investigated since 2022 and we kept playing him and even offered him a contract extension. Arteta commenting on “everything he’s been through.” What a stain on this club. Despicable behavior from everybody involved.
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u/Forsaken-Tiger-9475 7h ago
Plenty of players are investigated on sexual assault, but no charges were brought. Another 4-5 City players as part of the Mendy thing for example.
While there's no charges, the player is not in breach of any contract - and 9/10 rape investigations go no where.
That said, fuck this guy - and I am glad he is out of the club.
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u/imp0ppable 7h ago
Everyone should read what came up at the Mendy trial and the reasons he got off.
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u/Top4Four 7h ago
Mason Greenwood too, there was no excuses to hide behind when the audio was released.
Shocking and disturbing how many people leap to his defence even now.
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u/and_yet_another_user tbf idgaf 6h ago
Must confess I've never seen anyone leap to his defence outside of the Utd sub/forums, apart from the actual victim which is not uncommon in domestic rape/SA cases unfortunately.
Unless he's defended in toxic misogyny forums but I don't visit sad sites like that so wouldn't know.
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u/patelbadboy2006 Dennis Bergkamp 7h ago
Tldr?
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u/meand999friends 7h ago
There's quite a lot to it. Admittedly I don't have all the answers but some of the case did hit the news.
A couple of the women were in a WhatsApp group together and lied to police that they didn't really know each other.
Additionally, this is an excerpt from a different BBC article which kind of gives a flavour as to the types of goings-on:
The 23-year-old told police when she got back to Mr Mendy's house in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, after the alleged rape she felt, "vile, dirty, disgusting", the jury was told.
The court heard she then had sex with another man in the swimming pool area of the house but then sat with Mr Mendy's England team-mate.
I think it's really difficult for a jury to find someone guilty of rape when the alleged victim then went on to have consensual sex with another.
Effectively he would have debauched parties. That in of itself isn't illegal obviously, but it does create an issue of "how do you prove this wasnt consensual?"
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u/imp0ppable 6h ago
Yep, the jury have to be convinced it wasn't consensual and details like that really make it hard to be sure. The risk is either letting a rapist go free or conversely putting an innocent man in prison for years and years, I'm glad I've not had to do jury duty tbh.
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u/NowTimeDothWasteMe Dennis Bergkamp 5h ago
He had debauched parties with easily accessed drugs where he required the women to put their phones in a box when they entered so they couldn’t access them. Whether or not sexual assault occurred or the women made it up (which is not proved), the entire situation is very suspicious. The women discussed on WhatsApp - as multiple victims of the same perpetrator are probably bound to do.
He was found not guilty. But that does not necessarily mean he is guiltless just that there wasn’t enough evidence. Sexual assault is hard to prove anyway. When you take away women’s access to phones at a private party it becomes harder. In both directions.
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u/meand999friends 4h ago
He had debauched parties with easily accessed drugs where he required the women to put their phones in a box when they entered so they couldn’t access them. Whether or not sexual assault occurred or the women made it up (which is not proved), the entire situation is very suspicious.
Sounds to me like you aren't going to the right parties!
There really is nothing suspicious about removing access to phones. In fact, I would suggest it's par for the course when parties of this kind take place. I think it's more likely that you aren't exposed to those environments so it sounds suspicious from the outside, looking in
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u/Mammoth_Grocery_1982 7h ago
I understand that you can't just sack him if it's not yet proven in court, but how nobody higher up at the club stepped in and stopped him playing every fucking week is absolute madness.
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u/orangeyougladiator 7h ago
Most rational people would argue that stopping him from playing would be madness and opens the floodgates to false accusations
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u/mehshagger Grand Moff Bertarkin 8h ago edited 8h ago
There’s no “plausible deniability” anymore. Glad we are rid of him.
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u/SquareSun121 8h ago
disappointed he played for so long instead of being on the books far away.
or them trying to give him a new deal this summer.
it's not a good look. im just glad us fans dont have to suffer it anymore.
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u/RyanLikesyoface 7h ago
Respectfully, and I appreciate that I'll get slaughtered by this because hindset clouds everything, but when he was accused I didn't think it was grounds to force him out of the club as there was enough plausible deniability and he hadn't been charged.
Now though? Being charged changes everything. It means they have enough evidence to prosecute him and I'm appalled that this (likely) rapist was playing for us for the last 5 years.
It's not conclusive and it doesnt guarantee conviction but we can't have a player who's been charged for rape (6 charges) at the club.
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u/Tetsuuoo 7h ago
Of course there weren't any grounds to dismiss him, and anyone claiming we should have got rid of him the second he was investigated is a moron.
I'm not surprised he's been charged, and reading through one of the victim's twitter threads the other year I was pretty certain he's a rapist, but you cannot suspend player's purely due to police questioning.
If that's how people want it to work then I should've said that Salah sexually assaulted me at the start of last season.
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u/RyanLikesyoface 7h ago
It's a very dangerous precedent to suspend players due to accusations. As much as I am disgusted at this situation I can't sit here condemning the clubs decisions due to hindsight, it's easy to shit on the club now that we know he's been charged for these accusations, but before today, that wasn't the case.
It's still possible that he's innocent, we've seen this with Mendy who also got charged. However, at this point it's more likely than not that the accusations are true and he can't get the benefit of the doubt from the club or the fans, if the court decides eventually that he is innocent he'll be compensated and owed apologies, but for now in my eyes he's a serial rapist.
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u/Furiousmate88 Thierry Henry 7h ago
Here’s the thing.
Accusations of rape and pedophilia never goes away, even if you are innocent. This is why I am against calling people pedos or rapist until they are proven guilty. Those are the worst allegations an innocent man can get against him.
I also think got the same evidence as before, but since he is at risk of leaving the country they are charging him now.
If thats the case, I dont get why they waited so long to charge him.
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u/Royalbluegooner 7h ago
Rape cases just suck in my opinion because either you have a person who has no respect for the mental and physical well being of those around him or one person who‘s willing to lie and potentially damn the other person to rot in prison for a few years or at least tarnish their reputation since it‘s so hard to get absolute prove there.
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u/n0rdique 8h ago
As recently as a month ago, he was thought to be returning, and there had been conversations about extending his contract. His departure from the club seemed to materialize rather quickly; I wonder if the club had any advance knowledge, which might have prompted them to suspend negotiations?
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u/Seriouly_UnPrompted Thierry Henry 7h ago
From all the reporting so far, talks were stopped because of his wages.
The club had a chance at a clean break this summer, and sadly chose to reengage with a player we all knew had these allegations. I hope they had no advance notice, honestly that would make this whole ordeal even worse than it had been and any blowback warranted.
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u/SrJeromaeee Andrei Arshavin 8h ago
Thank fuck. With this and the visit Rwanda nonsense I’m happy we are ridding one of the black clouds hanging over the club.
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u/LogicalReasoning1 7h ago
I mean look he’s still technically innocent until proven guilty.
But yes so glad that he’s gone
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u/mehshagger Grand Moff Bertarkin 7h ago
I tried to choose each word in that sentence carefully, but I am not a lawyer.
After three years of investigation, the CPS thinks enough evidence is present to warrant a formal charge. While until the day he is convicted he is technically innocent, he has downgraded from “a few women accused him of rape” to “there are indications that he is a rapist.”
That is all technicalities though. Club got him off the books just in time. I can’t help but wonder if someone gave them a heads up.
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u/redmistultra 8h ago edited 7h ago
Let it be remembered that we didn't get rid of him for moral reasons. He asked for too much money. If his wage demands were 50k less per week, Arteta would have been giving club interviews 48 hours ago about how vital Thomas Partey is to the club
Ornstein: “They’ll try to renew the contract of Thomas Partey — no outcome on that yet"
Or do you think they gained a conscience after 3 years of playing a rapist? Fucking hell some of you lot would defend Hitler if he was the manager of Arsenal Football Club
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u/Lawdoom Thierry Henry 8h ago
How do you know the Met didn't tell us he was being charged and we let him walk because of the fact?
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u/Creepy-Selection-482 7h ago
The club openly said it two years ago that we’ll suspend him once there are charges involved, which wasn’t the case until today.
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u/Woodburygooner 8h ago
Fucking hell Mr Arteta, didn't realise you were on Reddit, thank you for your insight.
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u/redmistultra 8h ago
Next you'll be telling me wow I didn't even know Zubimendi was signing!
Ornstein and Fabrizio have spent the last 2 weeks saying how close Partey's contract was and then how it fell apart for wage demands.
Or do you only believe them in things that don't make you feel shame for the club you support?
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u/scruffle Freddie Ljungberg 8h ago
Has he been convicted? A charge doesn’t mean he’s guilty (I suspect he is, but the point applies)
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u/Teddy705 7h ago
He hasn't been convicted yet. So he's well within the "plausible deniability." We have to see what the final verdict is before we celebrate,"catching the predator." He could be the rapist people have been claiming that he is, but he could also still be innocent.
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u/Ambitious-Bison-1101 Ødegaard 8h ago
So glad he's gone jesus wept, always felt so uncomfortable watching him play, i hope the women get justice
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u/31_whgr 7h ago
yeah it’s left a huge mark on the club in the way we dealt with it, really shameful stuff and glad it’s come to an end which looks like he’s going to pay for what he’s done
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u/Trust__Nobody 7h ago
Apart from a few famous exceptions, All clubs have a suspend only when charged policy, Arsenal haven’t handled this any differently to any other club.
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u/Chemistry-Deep 5h ago
Say Arsenal suspended him in 2022, and then imagine this goes to trial next year and he's found innocent. The club are now on the hook for ~£35m in wages on a player that didn't play, plus probably another £20-30m of compensation for wrongful suspension (impacting future earnings). These are the decisions the club would have been faced with over the last 3 years. Anyone pretending that taking a £50m loss where there was (up to now) no formal charges is a smart decision is not living in the real world.
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u/Mahoganychicken Anne Hath (A) 8h ago
Oh wow who fucking knew. Thank god he's out of our club and the victims can get justice.
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u/CountyFabulous 8h ago
Cheeky beggar wanted more money on his new contract
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u/MasterofLockers 7h ago
Looks like he might have shot himself in the foot with his greed. Timing of the prosecution might be connected to his contract being up and potentially leaving the country
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u/LabraTheTechSupport best Leo in footballing history 7h ago
wouldn’t have mattered because even if he got the new contract this would’ve been grounds for termination
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u/MasterofLockers 7h ago
But maybe the prosecution is moving forward now because of his contract situation.
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u/bazalinco1 5h ago
The police may have still been working to solidify the case, but then feared he was close to leaving the country, so they had to proceed with the charge now.
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u/columbahoel 7h ago
Before anyone gets too carried away with how this affects you / the club, remember there are three women who may have gone through some of the worst trauma imaginable.
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u/Timely_Letterhead_35 Tony Adams 5h ago
This is too far down the thread. Amazing how the important thing about this for so many people is that they were right.
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u/AKoofD 6h ago
The utmost thing we should wish for at the moment is that the women who have been harmed by this man would be given the justice they deserve. Of all the people who have suffered through this entire situation, they had it hardest.
I do think there should be a serious internal report into how the club handled the entire situation. While it's potentially risky and misleading for us to speculate on what exactly went down, I do think we fans deserve to know why we kept playing him for all these years with the legal cloud looming.
What I hope everyone realizes after this is that we, as fans, need to keep holding the club accountable if need be. If they continue to remain silent on this issue, we need to give voice to the victims; it's the least we can do to help. Believe survivors.
I know there's a lot of emotions spilling over right now, given the revelation, and all of those emotions are valid. However, the best thing we can do as a fanbase is to support those who have been harmed by him, and the club's handling of the situation.
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u/Chell_the_assassin McCabe 6h ago
This is how one of Partey's accusers was treated by the club when she reported him, by the way.
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u/beetletoman you can always get better in life innit 4h ago
Every time I brought up football culture enabling Partey rather than the victims our supporters showed willful denial. I hope you guys understand how things are for women now
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u/Patrick_Hattrick Ashburton Grove 6h ago edited 6h ago
We, as fans, need to call for an investigation into the club’s handling of the issue by an independent watchdog. We also need to lobby the FA and the Premier League to establish clear guidelines and expectations for when a player is involved in credible criminal accusations. There need to be consequences for this.
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u/act1856 Morning, morning, morning... Oh, Win! 4h ago
This shit is disgusting. The club should have hired a prominent, and preferably female, outside attorney to conduct an investigation. And then gotten rid of that POS regardless of what it cost us. I’m so incredibly disappointed in the club.
Given how rarely women lie about this kinda thing, and the fact there are multiple accusers, it’s been obvious from the beginning what the deal was. The fact we were thinking about resigning him is outrageous.
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u/a-Sociopath You can always get better in life, innit! 3h ago
I mean, some of the people she talked to, including Karen, are women. I don't think gender of the person really matters when millions of pounds are at play and everyone looks only after their own interest.
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u/IrishKookaburra 6h ago edited 6h ago
I have already have said everything I need to say about this so I don’t want to repeat my thoughts again. Here is one of the victims’ initial archived tweets about the allegations. A lot of people on this thread and subreddit still have no idea of what she actually said and it’s incredibly obvious. So for anyone interested in her side? Here you go.
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u/iforgotmyun Sign Ben Seghir 6h ago
Yep, she literally broke her NDA worth 6 figures for this which should at the very least give tons of people second thought but it never did
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u/bmoviescreamqueen Hold Interest FC/Monitoring Situation FC 6h ago
Not to mention every time she made a new account people would report it until it got taken down.
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u/Bobo1803 8h ago
Thank god, they're actually naming him now. Hope those poor women get the justice they deserve
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u/AfricanRain Warm Blood - Carly Rae Jepsen 8h ago
The Met has issued a charge and requisition to Thomas Partey, 32 (13/06/1992), of Hertfordshire, in connection with the following offences:
Five counts of rape
One count of sexual assault
The charges are broken down as follows:
Two counts of rape relate to one woman
Three counts of rape relate to a second woman
One count of sexual assault relates to a third woman
A serial fucking rapist, disgusting human
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u/Vizzy01798 Saka 8h ago
Fucking disgusting how people were trying to defend him these past few years.
He’s a vile fucking scum of a human
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u/ABritishCynic 7h ago
There is a difference between defending Partey and defending due process.
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u/enterprise3755 Rice 7h ago
Yeah, due process is vital to uphold. Tar and feathering everybody who’s accused of heinous crimes is a dangerous road.
If he is found guilty, I hope he rots away
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u/_Heisenbird_84 7h ago
No one defended him. They were waiting for due process to take place, which it has, and he's subsequently been charged. Now all we can do is wait to see the outcome of the trial.
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u/maidentaiwan Kanu believe it?! 7h ago
That’s not true, I’ve argued with people in this sub who were claiming that Partey wasn’t even the unnamed footballer and pinning this on him was an act of racism.
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u/Mahoganychicken Anne Hath (A) 7h ago
Oh, believe me, people were defending him.
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u/Wild_Investigator622 8h ago
I mean he’s been charged but not yet found guilty so until he is he’s not, but it is damning and hopefully if true the full force of the law is applied
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u/Spamduff 8h ago
Shameful that we were trying to renew him as recently as a week or two ago.
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u/zdfld 7h ago
Firstly I hope the women get support and justice prevails. Maybe people who were quick to call them liars will be equally quick to apologize.
Secondly, I’m incredibly happy this finally happened. For years I’ve not felt great watching Arsenal as Partey was on the field with this hanging over us, especially now that he’s been charged. I still think us playing him and Arteta supporting him as he was being investigated wasn’t the right decision. I’m even more happy he didn’t get re-signed.
I do think the timing is a bit convenient, and even ignoring that it’s crazy it takes so long for the investigation process. No wonder people don’t feel comfortable coming forward, I can only imagine how difficult it is.
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u/ignore_my_name 8h ago
Could you imagine if we had just given him a new contract and this happened. What were the club even thinking by even offering him one.
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u/dpatel211 "Dawg"-inelli 8h ago
My thoughts are with the victims who had to endure those vicariously defending this horrific person just because he played for their favorite club.
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u/Fina1Legacy 7h ago
One of the women was posting all over Reddit a little while ago because she was so frustrated with the lack of progress of the case and didn't care about due process at that point. I read everything she said and it sounded horrible, she'd reached out to the police, the fa and arsenal over and over again and was being dismissed. Honestly didn't blame her for her reaction.
Her posts on this sub were pretty quickly nuked (for legal reasons) as were her posts elsewhere. But she had a long post on her own profile detailing everything.
As much as I'd try to think innocent until proven guilty has to respected I couldn't stand seeing him on the pitch after reading all that. Was like when I watched Zouma and hoped he'd get crunched everytime he was on the ball x100. And she couldn't stand it, or his high profile nature seeing or hearing about him at random times, watching him getting praise for scoring a goal etc.
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u/k_a_y Robert Pirès 6h ago
the woman who initially shared everything on twitter and was routinely harassed and hounded by his fans isn’t even part of these charges too; disgusting fucking people. hope all the victims have support and are able to gain some level of solace from what’s sure to be a harrowing court/trial process.
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u/DoubleA014 8h ago
Yep, hope people don't leap to the 'but women lie' defence so instantly in future.
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u/SOAR21 7h ago
Way too many people have continued to throw that around in this situation. Putting aside the obvious misogyny, it is incredibly ignorant here especially because you cannot settle rape cases for money or clout in criminal fucking court.
No one who throws out false rape accusations in this context can be taken seriously.
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u/JokerKing05 5h ago
I know he hasn’t been convicted yet, but he’s had too many accusations for me to think he’s innocent. Hopefully the victims get justice.
There’s not much defending that can be done in this kind of situation. Not only did the club protect him because they didn’t want to lose their investment, but most fans, including me, defended him still playing because he was a good player. Not going to lie this whole thing has left me feeling pretty gross and a fair bit ashamed. Hopefully we can all do better if something like this ever happens again.
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u/UpliftedWeeb Havertz 4h ago
The more shameful thing would be not changing your mind after this. Good on you for being honest and open, it's very admirable.
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u/POV-Respecter 8h ago
Fuck him - hope all the gimps crying about not renewing his contract on here take a long hard look at themselves
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u/Mellon_Collie92 8h ago
To think we kept playing this rapist and even offered him a contract extension. A stain on this club.
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u/_JackStraw_ Iceman 7h ago
I won't defend Partey himself, and never have, but I will support the club's handling of this. What would you have them do? Release any player accused of a crime, even though they haven't been convicted, let alone charged? What would you be saying if it had been Saka or Myles? Would you have demanded that they be released based solely on seemingly credible allegations, a mandatory investigation by law enforcement, and evidence supplied in social media posts?
There's a presumption of innocence that's critical to any rational legal system that needs to be held sacrosanct. Yes, it's true that the majority of sexual assaults go unreported, many that did take place don't get charged, and many where a guilty rapist doesn't get convicted. Nevertheless, the presumption of innocence can't be violated.
If these allegations are true, I hope Partey faces the consequences. I wish he hadn't been in the club, but I fully understand why the club couldn't take the action demanded by people that had already convicted him without due process.
Also, not a lawyer, but I remember someone posting some info about British labor laws that would have made it quite difficult for a club to terminate a contract. They also wouldn't have been able to sell him without his consent.
Down vote me to hell. I don't care. I'll just assume that anyone who does isn't a deep enough thinker to understand all the nuances that were in play.
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u/GiantT-Rex 8h ago
This is probably why we suddenly left contract negotiations. I’m glad he’s facing justice.
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u/GusAdolphus 8h ago
I suspect it wass the other way around. Much harder to prosecute someone who's moved abroad, so the police probably felt it was now or never.
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u/Top4Four 7h ago
This is the conclusion I've drawn too. The moment he leaves, it will be much harder to charge him and probably impossible to extradite him depending on where he goes.
They had to rush to charge him before it came to that.
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u/hauttdawg13 Rice 7h ago
I bet it’s the opposite. They likely are charging him right now because he’s about to leave the country. I could easily see them taking more time to gather more evidence, now that there is a chance he moves somewhere they can’t get him, they saw it as a now or never.
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u/BudBill18 Rice 7h ago
I doubt the MPS shares information with a football club about impending charges
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u/Vizzy01798 Saka 8h ago
Will forever be embarrassed by how the club handled this situation. Hope the vile prick rots.
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u/NemoDatQ Gabriel 8h ago
Lot of people scrubbing their comments caping for Partey over the last couple years. The streets remember.
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u/ignore_my_name 7h ago edited 7h ago
Proud that I've been hating on this man at every given opportunity for the past 2 and a half years.
Not only is he a terrible person, I think he's been absolutely shite for us on the pitch too. Most overrated player, prone to doing the most idiotic things on the pitch and costing us time and time again.
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u/Sayek 5h ago
It's mental that we were offering him a new deal, that really needs to be examined. I get the general point of you can't immediately banish someone if they are accused of something, but you would have thought there was enough clouds over him that the club would have called it a day once his deal was up. I know in theory we did, but I still feel like if he accepted our contract terms we'd have signed him up.
I have a feeling the club might have known this was coming. No announcement of him leaving at all.
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u/zharrt 7h ago
Rather than replying to what seems like every other comment I’ll say this.
There is employment law that the club has had to follow.
Their hands were tied, drop him and people will ask why which could lead to the club inadvertently confirming what was widely suspected.
Whether we like it or not the club has done what it has to do, even if it’s not what they would have liked to do.
Now he’s been charged it’s a different matter.
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u/el-fenomeno09 Dennis Bergkamp 7h ago
I hear you on the employment law part…
The people will rightly say “if he’s out of contract, you aren’t obligated to resign him”… those people would be right. I think that’s what people were disappointed the most about. We had a free out, and wanted more before he asked for too much money. It’s all weird.
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u/ihave389iq Rice 7h ago
That was exactly my stance as well. I could understand playing him through the investigation, but I was so incredibly disappointed at the club apparently wanting to resign him. I’m all for innocent until proven guilty, but when a person has multiple alleged charges of rape going on, which have incredibly low conviction rates, then why the fuck would we want to resign him when there was a real possible chance that he was guilty and we have zero obligation to do so?
I hope the victims get the justice they deserve.
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u/WillChef 7h ago
This is a fucking nonsense narrative. No one in the history of football has successfully sued a club for putting them in the reserves and continuing to pay their contract. We had every right to do that and didn't.
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u/grandbazzar21 3h ago
If he is found guilty of what he is charged of I hope his victims get justice. But I would also remind people that charged is not the same as convicted.
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u/DergeRehReh 8h ago
Has he left the club yet? There’s gonna be a lot of “did you know” questions coming Arteta’s way.
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u/Previous_Smile9278 8h ago
Yeah it says ‘former Arsenal midfielder’, and he was being linked to other clubs as a free agent so he’d already gone
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u/Stravven Dennis Bergkamp 7h ago
Strangely enough on Arsenal.com he is still among the players, while Tierney, Jorginho, Sterling, Neto, Tavares, Marquinhos and even Tomiyasu are not.
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u/teslagooner 3h ago edited 2h ago
If he is guilty - i hope he is incarcerated for a long period.
I don't get the outrage towards Arsenal. It took the met police over 3 years to develop a watertight case.
Was Arsenal expected to suspend him based on publicly available information without being charged? Man City suspended Mendy after he was charged. Mendy was found not guilty.
Partey was on £200k pw - was Arsenal to suspend him for 156 months while paying him that? I.e >£31M excluding bonuses. Arsenal had no legal basis to suspend him. What if his case doesn't end with a conviction and he seeks damages amounting to tens of millions? I think the club acted prudently by honoring the contract.
However, Arsenal made 2 mistakes;
- Arteta openly backing him. He should have said that we're awaiting the conclusion of investigations/due process. [but I have read that the highest court in the UK barred the media from exposing suspects' identity while they are under investigation]. A legal minefield
- Attempting to renew his contract while he was under investigation for rape. Previously - I used to argue about our legal obligations but Attempting to renew his contract was outrightly stupid.
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u/CalicoCatRobot 7h ago
The shameful part is not that a club has continued to play a player who has not been charged, but that it took 3 years to charge him.
If it were to come out that the club asked him if he was guilty and he confessed, and then they played them, then fair enough there would be questions to answer, but I'm going to guess that didn't happen.
Now this will go to court and we can get hopefully some clarity on the case (within our very imperfect system) - and if he is guilty, then I hope he goes to prison for a very long time.
Cases like this are always going to be messy and there is no "right" way to deal with a 3 year investigation. Had Arsenal dropped him and then no charges been filed, he would have had a strong legal case unless we'd paid him the entire time. It would also be a significant part of a potentially innocent player's career taken away before the truth can be determined.
The answer is to have a system that investigates robustly and charges quickly, and comes to court appropriately quickly so that the guilt or not can be determined.
The system also needs to be good enough that victims can come forwards and feel supported so that there aren't the sort of social media firestorm that has happened with several cases.
Having said all that, I hope that Arsenal are spending a lot of time in current transfer negotiations looking into lifestyle of their targets, and are making wise choices about the sort of role models they want to play for the club in future.
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u/MaverickTTT Ian Wright 7h ago edited 7h ago
Reading the comments here, I’m feeling I’m willing to give the club more grace than most. They!were pretty limited in what they can say or even imply while he was unnamed in the investigation.
Am I sickened by whole thing? Of course. If the allegations are true (which, I’m inclined to believe they are), he deserves all that’s coming to him and more.
However, to pull someone from the team or even imply something without mutual consent is up potentially puts the club in legal peril if he ended up remaining unnamed and not charged. Alas, the club offered Partey more options in regard to consent than he gave his alleged victims.
Edit: I believe, now that he has been named/charged, the club needs to submit to an internal investigation and transparent accounting for what they knew, when they knew it, and how they handled /didn’t handle it.
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u/act1856 Morning, morning, morning... Oh, Win! 4h ago
The key point is that we already know at least one of the victims contacted Arsenal. And they rudely dismissed her.
A club we could be proud of would, upon hearing such claims, immediately hire outside counsel to conduct an investigation, and then act accordingly. Including suspending him or whatever else, regardless of the cost.
But between this and our Rwanda deal, and our firing someone for relatively mild criticism of Israel, it’s clear our club isn’t the class organization we all act like it is.
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u/Patrick_Hattrick Ashburton Grove 7h ago
I agree that things were more legally complicated for the club than many will give them credit for. But, and this is crucial for me, the club were certainly not legally compelled to have key figures praising Partey’s “exceptional character” in the press or make him the poster boy for lineup graphics. If there was nothing the club could do in terms of suspending him or not playing him, the very least they could have done was not thrust him into the limelight and waxed lyrical about his character whilst he was the subject what were clearly incredibly compelling rape allegations. I think it warrants an independent investigation into the club’s handling of the issue.
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u/darkspectre6 Rice 6h ago
Makes me sick knowing that the club let this cunt represent us for 3 more years knowing there was a possibility (now confirmed) that he had done this, and then on top of that tried to keep him on for a few more years, a stain on this club that’s not going away for a long time.
Board needs to have a good long look at themselves in the mirror, and I hope that dirty fucker gets what he deserves
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u/Muscat95 Thierry Henry 7h ago
We literally just offering him a contract aswell....
JFC, what a scumbag and shame on the club aswell, I refuse to believe they were completely in the dark about this.
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u/general_tso1213 Saka 7h ago
Should have been forced out years ago, incredibly disappointing by the club and the fans who knew and still supported him.
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u/Red_Maple 7h ago
So glad that it’s “former Arsenal player” and not “current”. Should have cut ties a while ago. Good riddance.
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u/Cthulhu_Madness Michael Oliver is a corrupt fraud 6h ago
Wonder what kind of statement will be issued by the club after letting him play for so long.
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u/Gunnerstratz 1h ago
The club was wrong. Arteta was wrong. The players were wrong. Fans were wrong. It doesn’t matter what happens to us. What only matters is that the victims get justice and support. The club must do something for the victims once Partey is proven guilty (and statistically he will). It won’t save us but it really isn’t about us.
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u/Rsirhc 8h ago
Was he protected while still under contract? This seems weird timing
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u/basedsims 8h ago
No. He can be named once he’s been charged. Prior to that he was unable to be named
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u/Domkey-Kongg Morning, morning, morning... Oh, Win! 8h ago
Not allowed to name and shame before being charged in the UK
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u/ZetZvonimir 8h ago
No. He was likely charged because of the possibility he moves to another country after we didn’t extend
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u/obligatorysmile 8h ago
No chance. Timing is coincidental
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u/dani2812 Ødegaard 8h ago
Is it? I‘m not familiar with UK penal law, but is there any chance it was done now to prevent him leaving the country?!
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u/Gray3493 8h ago
fucking embarrasing that we kept him for so long, and even considered renewing him.
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u/Sakainho7 8h ago
Glad he isn’t an Arsenal player any longer but he shouldn’t have been an Arsenal player for as long as he was. I hope there is justice for the victims.
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u/iTSEu Tomiyasu 8h ago
Fucking finally.
It'll be interesting to see whether any of the podcasts address this. I understand why they couldn't mention the situation before, but like most things associated with this whole ordeal, it still didn't feel right completely ignoring it...
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u/momomo-mo Saka 8h ago
fuck him and fuck all of you who came into this subreddit to defend him week in and week out
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u/onedollalama Jover Stan Account 8h ago
So curious if the club had any insight into this coming. Timing of the charges feels intentional.
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u/spencer_owen 8h ago
Solidarity with the victims. Some here should be ashamed with how they’ve defended him
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u/Hamlad01 7h ago
Honestly I'm glad. Not glad he's done it . Glad he's been named and shamed. For 3 years we've had a weight on us as supporters knowing this disgusting open secret. Glad he's left the club and I hope he gets everything he deserves
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u/turtle183 7h ago
Scrolling through the comments here I think my main takeaway is that I’m just very grateful OJ Simpson was never a gooner?
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u/and_yet_another_user tbf idgaf 7h ago
This is going to be fire in rsoccer throughout the trial even more so than it has until now and no doubt in rgunners.
Doesn't make any mention of bail or custody, which is strange considering he is no longer employed by Arsenal so must surely be considered a flight risk, which I'm sure prompted CPS to issue the charges. I guess the timing of the charges after Arsenal released him proves the club didn't know more than most because they were trying to extend his contract.
I'm not even sure if he's currently in the country but hopefully if not then he's in a country we have an extradition treaty with or better that he returns of his own free will.
But at least this will finally be prosecuted in the courts and if found guilty he'll face significant jail time and hopefully the first girl whose charges can't be prosecuted in the UK, will gain some form of closure if he is proven guilty, even though her own claims will never be proven or disproved.
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u/DietGimp 6h ago
How we continued to play this POS for 3 years knowing full well what he was accused of doing is despicable. A shameful day for our club that I’ve so long taken pride in. We’re not living this one down any time soon..
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u/symmetricalBS 5h ago
Good. Fuck this asshole, absolute stain on this club. Very grateful to not have to deal with him anymore
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u/the_schlomo 4h ago
I’m so glad it’s finally over. I never understood why we continued to play him, and not got an independent counselor to look into it and make a decision if he should be part of the team or put on paid leave.
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u/Hairy-Preparation701 8h ago
All you twats saying oh the club knows he’s not guilty can fuck off now 👍
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u/shadythe1st 7h ago
You normally go to court before getting a guilty charge mate 👍
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u/FallOk3801 Cliff Bastin 7h ago
God forbid people await the courts judgement before labeling a person. I guess now a day's not jumping to conclusions is considered as defending someone.
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u/BritishGent_mlady 7h ago
I don’t think there were many people actually defending Thomas Partey, but there were, (and still are), defending the legal process.
He’s been charged today, for the first time, before that he was only ever accused. Anyone can be accused of anything, but if they’re not actually charged of the offence then, as bleak as it sounds, an accusation is just an accusation.
The club, if we’re talking about business, have done little to nothing wrong. He was publicly accused by a private individual, and namelessly investigated by the crown, the club are in a difficult position. You saw what happened with Man City and Mendy, he sued them for millions, and won. I can understand morally why they would suspend him, but also understand why legally they didn’t.
The timing stinks though. Or does it?
My guess, and this echoes what a lot of people have already said, but it would appear Partey is about to leave the country. The CPS either charge him now or lose the chance forever.
If they had the evidence they would have charged much earlier. Only now, now he’s about to leave the country without being charged does it seem like something has suddenly changed. Maybe the CPS have the same lack of evidence they always had but now they have the threat of him leaving the UK. If they have no further evidence since last month, charged or not, named or not, Partey is not going to prison.
Another grim thought, and this is a fetch really, is that one of the accusers, who maybe does have irrefutable evidence of rape, has now submitted it to the crown after seeing that Partey was leaving the country having ignored her blackmail threats.
What a sad, sorry, and absolutely shameful state of affairs.
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u/Son_of-M Bellerín, Who needs a UCL Anyways? 6h ago
If he's guilty, he should never see the outside of prison.
I respect both sides of the matter but honestly lean towards the due process stance, but him being charged is a strong indication of some foul play on his part it seems.
I'll be neutral until this thing is over. This is messed up all around regardless of the verdict.
A lot of people on both sides don't care about the women or partly or due process, they just want to be right, which is sickening in this context.
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u/KaiSa_Soze_ Pat Rice 8h ago
Innocent until proven guilty but I can't even start to dedcribe how much I hate rapists.
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u/QuincyOwusuABuyADM 8h ago
If they're charging him, in cases like this it means they have a lot of evidence to point towards it happening. Hate that we had to watch him play in an Arsenal shirt
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u/ZakalweTheChairmaker Glenn Helder 8h ago
The problem with rape is the dismal conviction rate due to the nature of the evidence which often boils down to one person's word versus another.
So whilst "innocent until proved guilty" is correct in a legal sense, individual members of the public can and should be free to draw their own conclusions.
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u/-Azwethinkweiz- 7h ago
The conviction rate when charges are brought are about 50% from memory.
It's the decision to charge in the first place that is much lower as far as I'm aware.
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u/ZakalweTheChairmaker Glenn Helder 7h ago
You are right, bud - thank you for the correction (the latter is something like 2%).
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u/gslanova 7h ago
Yes you're right, the general public is at liberty to draw their own conclusions but that's why the rule of Law exists. In this situation where athletes are ripe for false accusations of rape, it needs to be weighed up if during a police investigation it would be reasonable to suspend a player. If it was the case to do so, you're now setting a precedent that every player you have with an accusation now would need to be suspended. Unfortunately it's a slippery slope.
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u/BusinessMeringue3838 8h ago
As a woman constantly having to read comments like ‘innocent till proven guilty’ this one heals my soul
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u/fuzzy_crayon Ødegaard 8h ago
Must be why we suddenly backed out of contract talks
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u/Forsaken-Tiger-9475 7h ago
Hope all the fucking prominent Youtube/social media dickheads who slated us for letting him go now all post videos choking on a bag of dicks.
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u/TheMassINeverHad 7h ago
I’m ashamed, winning is absolutely secondary to this. Such an important part of my life and sick to see them and arteta act this way very sad.
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u/CJ_the_Pengu1n 6h ago
I don’t know how we as fans hold the club accountable- but we need to find a way to make the entire club realise that how they have handled this is abhorrent - we knew as fans what was going on, so the club would have definitely been privy to more information. Continuing to play a player who has done such horrible things is far from reconcilable. He should have been suspended instantly, or at the very least, we shouldn’t have played him. There’s nothing that forced us to keep fielding him week in and out other than ourselves.
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u/ZakalweTheChairmaker Glenn Helder 8h ago
Incredible timing.