In a Perth courtroom, a young woman's account of a night that began with admiration and ended in documented injury has produced a verdict as divided as the questions it raises about consent, celebrity, and the line between intimacy and harm. Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, known to millions as Yung Filly, was convicted of assault for biting a 20-year-old fan without consent during a September 2024 hotel encounter, yet acquitted on three of six sexual penetration charges, with a hung jury on the remaining three leaving the case — and both lives — suspended in uncertainty. The split decision,
Yung Filly guilty of assault but acquitted of rape; jury hung on three charges
A 20-year-old woman suffered extensive facial and neck bruising and a bite wound during the alleged assault following what began as consensual sexual contact.
The jury believed the assault happened. They convicted him on the biting.
Mark
The jury convicted him on assault but couldn't agree on the sexual penetration charges. What does that split actually mean?
Mimi
It means they believed the biting happened and that it was violent and non-consensual. But they couldn't agree on whether those acts crossed into the legal definition of sexual penetration without consent. That's a higher threshold, and apparently the jury fractured on it.
Mark
So he walks free on the rape charges but not on the assault?
Mimi
For now, yes. He's convicted on the assault counts. But the three hung counts could be retried. The prosecution gets to decide whether to go again.
Mark
The woman saw him pointing a phone at her during sex and asked if he was recording. That's what set him off?
Mimi
That's what the prosecution argued triggered the shift. Whether that's accurate or whether something else was happening—that's partly what the jury couldn't agree on. But the moment matters because it's the hinge between what both sides said was consensual and what came after.
Mark
He called them love bites.
Mimi
He did. He said it was sucking and tongue contact, that she was making sounds of pleasure. But the photographs of her injuries—the bruising, the open wound on her breast—those don't read as affection.
Mark
What happens now?
Mimi
The case goes back to court in three weeks. The prosecution decides whether to retry the three hung counts. If they do, they're starting from scratch with a new jury. If they don't, he's convicted on the assault but walks on the rape charges.
Le Pouls
- A 20-year-old woman who called the accused her idol left a Perth hotel room with extensive facial bruising, neck bruising, and an open bite wound — injuries that photographs made difficult to dispute.
- The central tension of the trial was a single moment: the woman asked if Barrientos was recording her, and prosecutors argued everything that followed crossed from consensual into assault.
- Barrientos admitted to the biting but framed it as affectionate — a characterization the jury partially rejected, convicting him on assault while deadlocking on the more serious sexual penetration charges.
- The hung jury on three counts means neither resolution nor exoneration, with prosecutors and defense returning to court August 21 to argue whether those charges will be retried.
- The case has already dismantled the career of a performer with three million TikTok followers and a BBC television profile, while fans illegally filmed courtroom proceedings and posted them online during the trial.
In a Perth courtroom, a young woman's account of a night that began with admiration and ended in documented injury has produced a verdict as divided as the questions it raises about consent, celebrity, and the line between intimacy and harm. Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, known to millions as Yung Filly, was convicted of assault for biting a 20-year-old fan without consent during a September 2024 hotel encounter, yet acquitted on three of six sexual penetration charges, with a hung jury on the remaining three leaving the case — and both lives — suspended in uncertainty. The split decision, rendered after eight days of testimony in Western Australia's district court, reflects how difficult it remains for courts and juries alike to navigate the moment when consent shifts, or ends, within a single encounter. A retrial decision expected August 21 will determine whether the law pursues a fuller reckoning.
Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos — the British musician and content creator known as Yung Filly — left a Perth courtroom on Friday with a verdict that resolves little and leaves much in suspension. The 30-year-old was convicted of two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm for biting a 20-year-old woman without consent during a September 2024 hotel encounter. He was acquitted of three sexual penetration charges. On three others, the jury could not agree.
The woman had met Barrientos hours earlier in a Perth nightclub's VIP section. She told the court he was her idol, someone she had imagined as a future husband. The prosecution argued that what began as consensual sex turned violent when she noticed him pointing his phone at her and asked if he was recording. What followed, according to prosecutors, included repeated biting to her face, neck, and breasts — leaving an open wound — as well as choking and slapping. Those acts, they argued, marked the point where consent ended and six counts of sexual penetration without consent began.
Barrientos acknowledged the biting but described it as affectionate — love bites involving suction and tongue, with only incidental tooth contact. He said the encounter had been mutually pleasurable. The photographs entered into evidence suggested otherwise, showing bruising across her face and neck and a visible wound on her right breast. The jury convicted him on the assault counts but divided on whether the same acts constituted sexual penetration without consent.
The three deadlocked charges will return to court on August 21, when a retrial decision will be made. Barrientos, who was arrested in Queensland during his first Australian tour and extradited to Western Australia, had his bail continued. The case has effectively ended the career of a performer who had built audiences of millions across TikTok, YouTube, and Spotify, and who had appeared on BBC programming. During the trial, some fans filmed courtroom proceedings illegally and posted the footage to TikTok, prompting the judge to remove them from the main courtroom. Both the woman and Barrientos now wait.
Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos, the British musician and YouTube personality known as Yung Filly, walked out of a Perth courtroom on Friday with a split verdict that leaves his legal fate unresolved and his career in ruins. The 30-year-old was found guilty of two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm for biting a 20-year-old woman without consent during a September 2024 encounter in a hotel room. But the jury acquitted him of three of the six sexual penetration charges he faced. On three other sexual penetration counts, the jury could not reach agreement, leaving those charges in legal limbo and opening the door to a potential retrial.
The trial, which stretched across eight days in the Western Australian district court, centered on what happened after consensual sex began between Barrientos and the woman, whom he had met hours earlier in a Perth nightclub's VIP section. She had told the court that he was her idol, that she loved him, and that she had imagined him as her future husband. The prosecution's case hinged on a moment of escalation: the woman noticed Barrientos pointing his phone toward her and asked if he was recording. What followed, prosecutors argued, was a sudden shift from consensual to violent. He began biting her face and neck repeatedly. He bit her breasts, leaving an open wound on her right breast along with bruising. He choked her. He slapped her face multiple times. The prosecution said these acts marked the point where consensual sex stopped and sexual assault began, triggering the six counts of sexual penetration without consent.
Barrientos admitted to biting the woman but offered a different characterization. He called them love bites, describing them as involving sucking, tongue movements, and incidental contact with his teeth. He testified that the sex had been good, that the woman had made sounds he interpreted as pleasure. But photographs presented to the court told a different story: extensive bruising across her face and neck, the visible bite wound on her right breast. The jury believed the assault happened. They convicted him on the two assault counts related to the biting. But they were divided on whether those acts constituted sexual penetration without consent, the more serious charge.
The hung jury on three counts means the case will return to court on August 21, when prosecutors and the defense will argue about whether to pursue a retrial on those charges. Barrientos, who was arrested in Queensland during his first Australian tour and extradited to Western Australia, had his bail continued until that date. He had pleaded not guilty to all ten charges.
The trial has effectively ended the career of a performer who had built a substantial following across multiple platforms. As Yung Filly, he had appeared on the BBC's celebrity version of Bake Off and hosted light entertainment programs including the dating show Hot Property. He had accumulated three million followers on TikTok, 1.8 million YouTube subscribers, and 850,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. During the trial, some of his young fans posted illegally recorded videos from inside the courtroom on TikTok, prompting the judge, Linda Black, to ban them from the main courtroom. The case now waits for a decision on whether the three deadlocked charges will be retried, leaving both the woman and Barrientos in a state of legal uncertainty.
Citations marquantes
He called the biting 'love bites' involving sucking and tongue movements, saying the woman made sounds he interpreted as pleasure— Yung Filly's testimony during trial
The woman told the court that Barrientos had been her idol and that she had loved him and wanted him to be her future husband— Woman's testimony in court
Envie de l'histoire complète ?
Lire l'original sur The Guardian ↗
Crime & Justice