UK rapper and YouTube personality Yung Filly has been found not guilty of raping a woman following a performance in Australia in 2024, but a jury convicted him on two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.
The entertainer, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, faced multiple charges over an incident involving a 20-year-old woman at a hotel in Perth after he performed at a nightclub in the coastal suburb of Hillarys.
A jury in Western Australia acquitted the 30-year-old of three counts of sexual penetration without consent. However, jurors found him guilty on two assault charges, while acquitting him of another assault charge and a charge of strangulation.
The jury was unable to reach unanimous verdicts on three additional rape charges, leaving prosecutors to decide whether those counts will be retried.
Barrientos, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, reportedly became emotional as the verdicts were delivered. He remains on bail and is scheduled to return to court on August 21, when a sentencing date for the assault convictions is expected to be set.
During the trial, Barrientos told the court that he was attracted to the woman after meeting her at the concert venue and denied touching her inappropriately before they later went to his hotel. He maintained that their sexual encounter was consensual.
Prosecutors alleged that the encounter turned violent after consensual sex, accusing Barrientos of biting, bruising and attempting to choke the woman despite her repeated requests for him to stop. Photographs of injuries, including bruises and bite marks, were presented as evidence.
Barrientos admitted biting the woman but described the marks as “love bites.” He denied that she repeatedly asked him to stop or that he assaulted her as alleged.
In closing arguments, prosecutors described Barrientos as an entitled celebrity who abused his position, while the defence argued that the complainant’s account contained significant inconsistencies and falsehoods.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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