PERTH, Australia (AP) — A British YouTuber and rapper known as Yung Filly admitted in an Australian court on Thursday to reckless driving while he was awaiting trial on charges of raping a woman three months ago.
The 29-year-old, whose real name is Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, appeared briefly in the Perth Magistrates Court charged with speeding at 158 kilometers (98 miles) per hour in a 100 kph (62 mph) zone in the Western Australia state capital last month. Speeding becomes reckless driving at 45 kph (28 mph) above the speed limit.
His lawyer Joanne Oliver told the court he would plead guilty to a reckless driving charge at his next court appearance on Jan. 30.
Barrientos faces potential penalties of 9 months in prison, a 6,000 Australian dollar ($3,750) fine and a disqualification from driving for at least six months.
Dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, Barrientos did not speak to news media as he walked from the court to a waiting van.
Barrientos first appeared in the same court in October when he was charged with raping and choking a woman in a hotel room after a performance during a national tour.
The Colombia-born entertainer, who has 1.8 million followers on YouTube, had been arrested in the east coast city of Brisbane and extradited across the country.
He is accused of assaulting a woman in her 20s in a hotel room on Sept. 28 after he had performed in a Perth nightclub at the outset of the Australian tour that included Melbourne and Sydney before it was to end in Brisbane. He was arrested before the Brisbane performance.
He is charged with four counts of rape, three counts of assault causing bodily harm and one count of impeding the woman’s normal breathing or circulation by applying pressure to her neck.
His bail conditions include that he does not leave Western Australia.
Barrientos started his YouTube career in 2013 and music career in 2017. He has also hosted or appeared in several television programs.
He won a MOBO Award, an annual British music award presentation honoring achievements in “music of Black origin,” in the Best Media Personality category in 2021.
Andres Felipe Valencia Barrientos, the British YouTuber and rapper known as Yung Filly, arrives at the Perth Magistrates Court in Perth, Australia, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. (Richard Wainwright/AAP Image via AP)
MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron arrived Thursday to the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte to survey the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Chido.
Macron will overfly the area for an aerial appraisal of the damage before visiting the hospital. He will then visit a destroyed neighborhood.
French authorities said at least 31 people have died and more than 1,500 people were injured, more than 200 critically.
But it's feared hundreds or even thousands of people have died after the strongest cyclone in nearly a century ripped through the French territory of Mayotte off the coast of Africa on Saturday.
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Women wash clothes in a stream in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A man stands on his roof in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A boy sits in his destroyed home in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A boy stands amidst debris in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
People queue for gas in Mamoudzou in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
A young girl walks in the Kaweni slum on the outskirts of Mamoudzou, in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
Women rest on a footbridge over a stream filled with debris in the Kaweni slum in the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024, after Cyclone Chido. (AP Photo/Adrienne Surprenant)
