Yung Filly to face rape charge retrial in Australia
British rapper and YouTuber Yung Filly will face a retrial in Australia on three rape charges after a Perth jury could not agree on those counts. He was cleared of other sexual offences and convicted of two assaults linked to a 2024 hotel encounter with a fan. Sentencing and a new trial date remain pending.
Key Takeaways
- Yung Filly, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, will be retried on three rape charges in Western Australia.
- A jury cleared him of three rape counts and other offences, but could not reach verdicts on three further sexual penetration charges.
- He was found guilty of two assault counts from the same 2024 Perth hotel incident; sentencing waits until after the retrial.
- The complainant, then 20, is willing to give evidence again; Barrientos remains on bail and is due back in court on 27 August.
What did the first trial decide about Yung Filly?
According to the BBC, Barrientos denied all 10 charges stemming from allegations that he repeatedly raped and assaulted a fan after performing at a nightclub in Perth in 2024.
Last month, after an eight-day trial, a jury found him not guilty on three counts of rape, or sexual penetration without consent. He was also acquitted of assault and strangulation charges, while being convicted of two counts of assault.
Prosecutors are proceeding to a retrial only on the three sexual penetration charges where the jury could not agree. No retrial date has been set. Coverage across the true crime beat has followed the case closely because of the entertainer’s public profile.
What are the allegations and how does Yung Filly respond?
Barrientos had been on tour in Australia when he was accused of sexually assaulting the woman in his hotel room after a show at Bar 120 in Hillarys, a coastal suburb of Perth. The court heard they had consensual sex first, before she alleged the encounter became non-consensual and violent.
He told the court he had “fancied” the woman when they met at the venue and that the “vibes were good” later at the hotel. He denied hitting her or holding her by the throat, said he gave her “love bites,” and maintained the sexual acts were consensual.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Danielle Clarke described him as an “entitled” man with a “moderate degree of fame.” His defence lawyer said the accuser’s evidence was full of “inconsistencies, embellishments and outright lies.”
What happens next in the Yung Filly case?
On Friday, Clarke told the court the complainant is “more than willing to give evidence” again. There was no discussion of whether the retrial would be before a judge or a jury.
Barrientos, who is on bail, will next appear on 27 August for an application to vary his bail. He will not be sentenced for the two guilty assault findings until after the re-trial.
Born in Colombia and raised in the UK, he is known for work with the YouTube collective Beta Squad, a celebrity Bake Off appearance on Channel 4, and presenting BBC Three shows. He had nothing to say to media as he left court.