A woman who accused Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy of sexually assaulting her three times sent a buddy a message that same night that read, “I’m being f* tonight,” a court heard today.
The 20-year-old lady allegedly informed her friends in another message: “If I ever get pregnant, it’s going to be tonight,” the footballer’s attorneys told the jury.
During cross-examination, Eleanor Laws, QC, the lawyer for the 28-year-old French international, argued that the woman and the football player had consensual intercourse.
Additionally, they asserted that the lady had lied when she said that the £52 million defender boasted of having slept with “10,000 women” during the alleged rape.
At Chester Crown Court, Mendy is on trial for eight counts of rape, one count of attempted rape, and one act of assault involving seven women. He disputes the charges.
Today, the victim described to the jury in a vivid statement how Mendy locked her in a bedroom with a “fingerprint touchscreen” before raping her.
She said in court that the singer boasted about having slept with thousands of women while he committed the sex attack and urged her: “Don’t tell anyone and you can come over every night.” She also claimed that the star acted as though it was a “privilege” to be raped by him.
However, during cross-examination, Mendy’s attorney questioned the woman about whether she was telling the truth about the assault, which is said to have happened at Mendy’s £3 million Cheshire property.
Absolutely not, the woman insisted. When he claimed that I was shy, he mentioned having slept with 10,000 women.
‘I’m certain. It’s in high definition in my mind. It’s the most traumatic thing that’s happened to me.’
Asked about the impact of the alleged attack, she said: ‘The hardest thing is how many times I said no, it makes me upset. I felt petrified after it happened.’
The woman allegedly followed the French citizen into his room after he allegedly stole her phone from her hands on the fourth day of the trial.
She testified before the court that after entering, Mendy shut the bedroom door, which she claimed was equipped with unique locks and required fingerprint technology to open.
When she told Mendy she didn’t want to have sex with him, she told the jury, and he responded, “The door is locked anyway,” she said.
The woman described Mendy’s bedroom, saying it was wood-paneled, had an en suite bathroom, and had a big bed with a Versace cushion in blue and gold.
She claimed that Mendy was wearing a black top, chocolate-colored bottoms, and three diamond-encrusted chains around his neck.
Giving evidence in the trial, she said: ‘He (Mendy) took my mobile phone off me and I followed him up two flights of stairs to try and get it back.
‘I was saying ‘that’s my phone, I want it back.’ He was going through it looking at private pictures of me that I’ve sent before.
‘He saw pictures of my bum and was saying how much he liked it and he also said he liked my t**s.’
She referred to Mendy’s bedroom, describing it as having a large wooden door with a hotel-style black doorknob. It was marked with some sort of touch screen fingerprint.
‘I followed him in to get my phone then the door shut behind me. I said listen, I want to go home, I don’t want to have sex with you.’
The victim was invited back to Mendy’s estate for a party after meeting him and a group of pals in Alderely Edge, where the alleged event occurred in October 2020.
Mendy took her phone from her as she was using Snapchat in the basement of his house near the swimming pool.
When the woman entered the room, Mendy reportedly requested her to take off her clothes.
He claimed that all he wanted to do was gaze upon me. I promise I won’t touch you, he said. Just show me your t**s, please.
I promise, I only want to look at you, he repeated. You have no chance of escaping.
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The woman said she pulled her clothing off reluctanly because she wanted to get her phone back and go home; otherwise, she would have been left standing in a thong.
The footballer then grabbed Mendy from behind as she bent over to pick up her dropped cell phone from the bed.
He forced me onto the bed so that I was on all fours, she said, coming around from behind me.
‘I told him: ‘No. I don’t want to have sex with you.’ He said he would not touch me, he just wanted to feel me.
‘I was on all fours with my bum in the air. He was pulling my bum towards him and I kept saying ‘I don’t want to have sex with you.’
The woman disclosed that Mendy first sexually assaulted her before shifting her thong to one side.
He shifted my thong to the side, she remarked. He was holding me even though I was attempting to get away. He returned repeatedly.’
A jury of eight men and four women heard the woman’s testimony on video.
I told you I didn’t want to do that, she said (have sex). I informed him that my sister was waiting for me and that I had to leave because she was likely looking for me.
“He had his top off, his jeans completely undone, and three diamond chains around his neck.”
You’re too shy, he remarked. I’ve had sex with ten thousand women.
In the roughly 20 minutes that followed, the jury heard that Mendy sexually assaulted the woman three times despite her protests to the contrary. I’m not interested in having sex with you. I must leave.
My body was so tense, she said to the judge. There was only this ache.
The woman admitted that it was a Sunday night and that she had met Mendy at a place in Alderley Edge called Parea.
Mendy joined the footballer’s group of mates for conversation and drinks as they were conversing separately with their own group of four female friends.
When the restaurant was ready to close at 10.30 p.m., the woman claimed that Mendy and his group invited them back to The Spinney, his estate.
The woman claimed that after the alleged rape, Mendy exited the bedroom after she changed into her clothes.
“I simply wanted to stay calm, go out, and not cause a scene,” she remarked. I simply changed into my clothes and left.
The woman said in court that she told her sister and a coworker what had happened at Mendy’s estate, and she also went to a rape crisis centre because she had been traumatised.
The following day at work, she was awaiting a meeting when a coworker arrived.
“She just glanced at me and said, “Is everything all right?”” Mendy’s accuser reportedly said to investigators. I suddenly started sobbing uncontrollably.
I just mentioned that last night I was in a situation. Although I’m not sure what to do, I don’t feel good about it.
“What really upsets me is how many times I said no,” she continued.
After raping her three times, the woman claimed to the police officer questioning her at Macclesfield Police Station that Mendy promised her: “Don’t tell anyone and you may come here every night.”
The day following the alleged rape, she received messages on Snapchat from both Mendy and her co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, asking her if she was OK. Could you please give me a call so we can talk?
She blocked both of their phone numbers and grabbed screenshots. The witness was cross-examined by Mendy’s attorneys this afternoon.
Asked to explain why she took her clothes off once in Mendy’s bedroom, the woman replied:
‘He gave me a choice, you can’t leave so take your clothes off. He said ‘I won’t touch you.
‘I was trapped in any way. I made it very clear that I didn’t want anything to do with him. Taking my clothes off was my only choice.’
She added: ‘It’s all absolutely true. He said I was locked in and told me that I was not allowed to leave.
‘He said that I would not be able to leave. He said if you take your clothes off, I promise I will not touch you, I just want to look at you.’
Ms. Laws questioned the victim about why she did not inform her friends of the rape right away.
After the assault, the woman said, she changed, went downstairs to hang out with her friends, and then politely requested to be let go. She didn’t tell her sister and a coworker about what happened until the next day.
If you had been raped, you would have been completely lost, Ms. Laws remarked. But you made no comments, either at home or after you departed, in the car.
I hadn’t thought about it; I just wanted to get home, the woman retorted. I was stunned. I lacked the vocabulary to admit that I had been raped.
Ms. Laws asked her: ‘You were dancing with one of Lingard’s friends?’
The woman replied: ‘Yes.’
Ms. Laws said that the woman was ‘happy’ to be in the company of footballers and messaged one of her friends during the night out saying: ‘I’m sat with footballers.’
Ms. Laws read messages to the court from the woman to friends during the night out, which ended up at Mendy’s mansion.
In one she wrote: ‘I have decided. After my first drink, I’m getting f**ked tonight. Why not?’
In another, she said: ‘If I’m ever going to get pregnant, it’s going to be tonight.’
In relation to seven young ladies, Mendy is charged with eight charges of rape, one act of attempted rape, and one case of sexual assault.
In contrast, Mendy’s co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 41, the footballer’s buddy and fixer, denies four counts of sexual assault and eight counts of rape involving eight young women.