Western Australian prosecutors will retry British rapper Yung Filly on three rape charges after a jury failed to reach a verdict on those counts, a move that keeps the 30-year-old entertainer in legal limbo nearly two years after the alleged attack in a Perth hotel room.
Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, the Colombian-born social media celebrity who performs as Yung Filly, appeared before Judge Linda Black in the District Court of Western Australia on Friday and learned the state intends to bring him back to trial. Prosecutor Danielle Clarke told the judge that the alleged victim, a woman who was 20 years old at the time of the alleged assault, is willing to take the stand again, the Associated Press reported.
Barrientos said nothing to reporters as he left the courthouse. No retrial date has been set. He remains free on bail, the same bail that has allowed him to return to Britain for months at a stretch while the case drags on.
The first trial, held last month in Perth, ran eight days. Jurors convicted Barrientos on two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm against the woman. They acquitted him on one charge of choking her and on four of the seven rape charges he faced.
On the remaining three rape charges, the jury could not muster the majority verdict that Western Australian law requires, at least 10 of 12 jurors agreeing. That deadlock left the most serious allegations in the case unresolved and handed prosecutors a decision: walk away or try again.
They chose to try again. Clarke's announcement Friday that the alleged victim is prepared to testify a second time signals the prosecution believes the case is worth the cost and the toll on the complainant. Sentencing on the two assault convictions Barrientos already faces has been deferred until after the retrial concludes, AP News reported.
The charges trace back to September 2024. Barrientos had been touring Australia, performing in Sydney and Melbourne before arriving in Perth. Prosecutors alleged that after a music performance in Perth, the woman initially agreed to have sex with Barrientos in his hotel room but withdrew her consent because she feared for her safety.
Several days after the alleged attack, police arrested Barrientos in Brisbane, the east coast city where his tour was set to end. He was charged and released on bail. Authorities later permitted him to leave the country and return to Britain for an extended period, a concession that raised questions about the conditions of his release, though the court or authority that approved the arrangement has not been publicly identified in reporting on the case.
High-profile sexual assault cases that hinge on consent and credibility often test the limits of the justice system. New York prosecutors recently dropped a rape charge against Harvey Weinstein after two hung juries left that case similarly unresolved. The Yung Filly retrial will force a new panel of jurors to weigh the same evidence that split the first twelve.
Barrientos, now 30, has been free on bail since he was first charged. The fact that he was allowed to fly back to Britain, thousands of miles from the Perth courtroom, and remain there for months underscores the unusual posture of this case. Courts typically impose strict travel restrictions on defendants facing multiple rape charges. Whether those conditions were modified after Friday's hearing remains unclear.
The alleged victim's identity is suppressed under Australian law. Her willingness to testify again, relayed through the prosecutor, is the only public indication of her posture toward the retrial. She will face cross-examination a second time on the same allegations, a process that victim-advocacy groups have long described as one of the most grueling ordeals in the criminal justice system.
Cases involving celebrities and allegations of sexual violence continue to draw intense public scrutiny worldwide. A French banker was recently sentenced to 25 years for forcing his girlfriend into sexual acts with hundreds of men, a case that exposed how long serious sexual offenses can go undetected.
Barrientos built his public profile on social media and music, cultivating a following that spans Britain and beyond. His legal troubles in Australia have cast a long shadow over that career. The two assault convictions alone carry potential prison time, and the retrial on three rape charges means the most severe consequences remain on the table.
The pattern of entertainers and athletes facing serious criminal charges, and the uneven pace at which justice follows, is familiar to American audiences as well. Former NFL star Marcellus Wiley was recently arrested on a domestic battery charge in Florida, another reminder that celebrity status does not insulate anyone from accountability.
Breitbart noted that the alleged victim was described as a fan of the rapper, a detail that sharpens the power imbalance prosecutors will likely emphasize at retrial. The woman met Barrientos in connection with his performance, and the encounter moved to his hotel room.
Witness credibility and the question of withdrawn consent will sit at the center of the retrial, just as they did the first time. Four rape charges produced acquittals. Three produced deadlock. Prosecutors are betting a second jury will break the other way.
Meanwhile, questions flagged by the case remain open. What prompted the court to allow a defendant facing seven rape charges to leave the country on bail? What specific conduct underlies the two assault convictions, and how do those convictions interact with the rape allegations? And how long will the alleged victim, now roughly 22, have to wait before the case reaches a final resolution?
Retrials in sexual assault cases test whether the system takes these allegations seriously enough to spend the resources and put a complainant through the process twice. In cases where witness credibility has later collapsed, the consequences of getting it wrong cut in every direction.
A justice system that lets a defendant charged with multiple rapes fly home across the globe on bail, and then asks the alleged victim to testify all over again, owes both sides a swift and decisive second trial. Delay is its own kind of injustice.
