At the trial of footballer Benjamin Mendy, which opened on August 10 in the north-west of England, each passing day brings its share of horrors. After the statement of facts by the prosecutor, who had described on Monday a “predator“for whom women were”things to use for sex and then throw away“, The testimonies of the complainants now follow one another against the defender of Manchester City, prosecuted for eight rapes, an attempted rape and a sexual assault against seven women. This Thursday, the jury heard the account of an alleged victim who claimed to have been raped several times by the France international despite his repeated refusals.
In a recording played at the trial in Chester, near Liverpool, the 20-year-old said she met Benjamin Mendy and friends at a bar near the former Marseille man’s home in October 2020 and agreed to then go there. On the spot, while she was consulting her phone, the footballer would have seized it, accusing her of having taken photos of him. She would then have pursued him in the house, up to his bedroom, the opening of which was triggered by fingerprint. The door would then have closed behind them.
«Look, I want my phone, I don’t know what you’re thinking. I don’t wanna make love to youshe recalled saying. The player’s response, according to her:anyway, the door is locked.” The winner of the 2018 World Cup with the France team would then have forced her to undress and raped her three times in about twenty minutes, despite her repeated refusals: “I don’t want to do that, […] I have to go». «My body was so tense, I was in so much pain“, she recalled, saying that she had bled after these forced reports.
The young woman assured that Benjamin Mendy, after the rapes, had called her “shy“, boasted of having had relations with”10,000 womenand had tried to obtain his silence in exchange for returning to his home the following days. “As if it had been a privilege to come every night to do this with him“, she added. The next day, the young woman said she received a Snapchat message from the player, with a series of question marks. “I said no a lot of times, that’s what really pisses me off“, regretted the one who filed a complaint three weeks later, after having spoken to her relatives and to professionals specializing in the reception of victims of sexual violence.
A three month trial
Co-defendant in the trial and himself prosecuted for eight rapes and four sexual assaults, Louis Saha Matturie (who has no connection with former Manchester United striker Louis Saha) was also incriminated in the testimony of the complainant. This member of Benjamin Mendy’s entourage would have sent him a message the day after the attack: “Are you fine ? Call me, let’s talk.She did not answer but took screenshots, before blocking the numbers, according to her.
The ten counts brought against Benjamin Mendy relate to facts which allegedly took place between October 2018 and August 2021 at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire. The highly publicized trial is taking place at Chester Crown Court and is expected to last more than three months. Like Louis Saha Matturie, the Manchester City defender, suspended by his club for a year and the outbreak of the case, pleads not guilty. He theoretically faces life imprisonment.