BENJAMIN Mendy told his victim “don’t move” as he held her arms behind her back and raped her, a court heard today.
The Manchester City left-back, 28, is accused of 10 offences against seven women between October 2018 and August last year.
He denies eight counts of rape, one count of sexual assault and one count of attempted rape.
Mendy’s co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 40, is accused of eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault relating to eight women, which he also denies.
The jury was told of a significant date involving a pool party, a trip to a nightclub and a post-club party back at Mendy’s house, on July 23 and into July 24 last year.
Over this period, Mendy is accused of the rape of three women – one aged 22 and two aged 19.
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One of the 19-year-olds was also allegedly raped by Saha.
Saha is also accused of the sexual assault of another woman, aged 22, in the same 24-hour period.
On the evening of July 23, a 22-year-old woman who worked at a nightclub in Manchester was invited to the pool party by Saha in return for money – an attempt to “procure” her as a potential victim, it is alleged.
Mendy invited the 22-year-old to the cinema room in the house, the woman telling another girl if she was not back in 10 minutes to come and find her.
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The 22-year-old did not want sex but he “persisted in his demands” until she gave in and he raped her, the court heard.
The other girl did come looking for her – but found two of Mendy’s associates blocking her way.
After the pool party, Mendy, Saha and others went to China White nightclub in Manchester.
Two 19-year-old woman who had been to the pool party returned to Mendy’s house after the club, where both were raped, it is alleged.
One remembered being in the swimming pool.
Her next recollection was being face down on a sofa in the living room with her arms being held behind her back.
Mendy was raping her saying, “Don’t move, don’t move”, the court heard.
The £52million defender today arrived at Chester Crown Court for the first day of his trial.
Timothy Cray QC, opening for the prosecution, told the jury: “This case is another chapter in a very old story: men who rape and sexually assault women because they think they are powerful, and because they think they can get away with it.”
The court heard how Mendy and Saha shut several of their victims in rooms in the footballer’s “isolated” mansion in Mottram St Andrew, rural Cheshire.
The women allegedly had their phones taken off them on arrival before being left in the study and master bedroom, which have “special locking doors” that can only be opened from within.
Mr Cray told jurors only someone who knew how to open the doors could do so, adding: “Two of witnesses allege rapes in those rooms and felt they were locked in.”
Describing one alleged incident, Mr Cray said a complainant – who first met Mendy in Barcelona – ended up at his home after going into Manchester for food and drinks with the player and another man.
The prosecutor said the woman had made it very clear that she was not interested in Mendy.
The acts that the defendants did together show callous indifference to the women they went after. In their minds, and this could not be clearer, the stream of women they brought to their homes existed purely to be pursued for sex
Prosecutor Timothy Cray QC
He said: “The next day, she was having a shower when Mendy entered the bathroom and started to touch himself in front of her.
“She told him to leave and tried to get a towel to cover herself up.
“She also tried to get her underwear from her bag but Mendy took it from her, saying words like, ‘I just want to see you’.”
The prosecutor said the woman was unable to leave the bathroom and they ended up on the bed with the woman on Mendy’s lap.
He said: “She tried to move but she was unable to get away from him.”
Mr Cray accused Mendy of “treating women as though they existed purely for sex” and said the feeling of his alleged victims “counted for nothing”.
He added: “These women were disposable: things to be used for sex, then thrown to one side.
“That was the effect of deliberate, planned choices the defendants made, and the desires they let loose many times.”
Mr Cray said Saha was Mendy’s friend and fixer, and one of his jobs was “to find young women and to create the situations where those young women could be raped and sexually assaulted”.
The prosecutor told jurors they will hear from 13 different women during the trial.
There are seven complainants against Mendy, and eight against Saha, with two complainants alleging both men raped them.
Mr Cray said: “Our case is that the defendants’ pursuit of these 13 women turned them into predators, who were prepared to commit serious sexual offences.”
He added that “the fact they would not take ‘no’ for an answer” would be something the jurors will “hear time and time again”.
‘SCARED AND ISOLATED’
Mr Cray said there were five dates, between October 2018 and August 2021, when nine young women arrived at Mendy’s address.
They afterwards made complaints of rape and sexual assault against Mendy and Saha.
There are also four separate complaints against Saha involving allegations away from Mendy’s house, in Manchester and Sheffield.
Mendy was bailed in January after spending 134 days in custody following his arrest in August.
Premier League champions Man City spent a reported £49.2million signing Mendy from French side Monaco in 2017.
He last played for the club on August 15, 2021, during their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham at the start of last season.
In September 2020, City boss Pep Guardiola revealed Mendy would be out of the game for at least a month due to an injury.
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In a statement, the club later said: “Manchester City can confirm that following his being charged by police today, Benjamin Mendy has been suspended pending an investigation.
“The matter is subject to a legal process and the club is therefore unable to make further comment until that process is complete.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
