Man City star Benjamin Mendy arrives for start of second week of his rape trial

Woman ‘who claims she was raped three times in a locked room by Man City star Benjamin Mendy ‘looked like she’d seen a ghost ‘ in the minutes after the sex attack’

  • Friend said she had gone to look for the 20-year-old after she disappeared 
  • Told court she found her friend coming downstairs from an upstairs bedroom 
  • Asked how she looked, the friend said: ‘She looked like she had seen a ghost’
  • Mendy denies eight counts of rape against five women and one attempted rape
  • Mendy’s co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie has pleaded not guilty to eight rapes 

A young woman who claims she was raped in a locked room by Manchester City star Benjamin Mendy ‘looked like she had seen a ghost’ in the minutes after the alleged attack, her friend told jurors today. 

The friend said she had gone to look for the 20-year-old, who she regarded ‘like a sister’, after she had gone missing with Mendy for around 20 minutes during a party at the Manchester City star’s £4.8million Cheshire mansion in .

The witness told Chester Crown Court she found her friend coming downstairs from an upstairs bedroom.

Timothy Cray QC, prosecuting Mendy, 28, who denies multiple sex assaults, asked the friend: ‘How did she look to you?’

The witness replied: ‘She looked like she had seen a ghost. She looked blank. She looked dead.’

Mendy's co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 41

Benjamin Mendy, 28, (left) denies eight counts of rape against five women, one count of sexual assault, and one count of attempted rape. Right: His co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 41

Moments later the rape complainant told her friend she was ‘very keen’ to leave and go home, the trial heard.

When they got to her home, the 20-year-old told her friend she was ‘fine’ and tried ‘brushing off’ the incident, the witness said.

But she also talked about ‘being in a situation where you don’t want to do something, feel pressured so you just go along with something’, the friend told the jury.

She said that the morning after, the complainant said Mendy had promised not to touch her if she stripped while he looked at her, but then ‘forced’ her down on a bed and raped her.

Earlier the court heard both young women had been among a group of four friends who went back to Mendy’s home after drinks at a nearby bar on October 11, 2020.

The girls had been told not to use their phones at Mendy’s home due to his concerns about being seen breaking Covid rules. 

The 20-year-old woman hid hers in her bra and had been scrolling through her phone near a swimming pool when he came over and ‘snatched’ the phone from her to check if she had been taking pictures and posting to social media, the court has been told.

She said she asked for it back but the footballer led her to an upstairs bedroom where the alleged sex attack took place despite her telling him she did not want sex.

Prosecutors allege Mendy is a ‘predator’ who ‘turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game’.  

A doctor at a sexual assault referral centre in Manchester earlier told the court that the alleged victim had self referred 44 hours after the incident.

Dr Kirsten Beattie said she could not fin any injuries even though the complainant had complained of heavy bleeding the previous day.

The medic said the absence of any injuries could not determine whether or not there had been either non consensual or consensual sex. 

Prosecutors allege Mendy, a French international, is a 'predator' who 'turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game'. He denies all the charges against him

Prosecutors allege Mendy, a French international, is a ‘predator’ who ‘turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game’. He denies all the charges against him 

Mendy denies eight counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against seven young women.

Co-accused Louis Saha Matturie, 41, is the footballer’s friend and fixer, alleged to have had the job of finding young women for sex.

Matturie, of Eccles, Salford, denies eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault relating to eight young women.

Both men say if any sex did take place with women or girls it was consensual.

The trial continues.  

None of the women involved can be identified and reporting restrictions apply ahead of the trial. Pictured: Saha Matturie

None of the women involved can be identified and reporting restrictions apply ahead of the trial. Pictured: Saha Matturie

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk