A young lady repeatedly went back to Manchester City footballer, Benjamin Mendy’s Cheshire mansion despite him allegedly raping her there, a court heard

Jurors at Chester Crown Court on Tuesday, September 6, heard the woman claim she ‘tried to block’ the incident from her mind and that she was always with friends when she returned to the house.

Jurors were also shown footage from a Manchester nightclub showing Mendy dancing on a table, with his trousers half-way down and his top off.

A month earlier the woman, aged 19 at the time, said she was raped by Mendy after visiting the same night club, China White, and returning to his mansion in Mottram St Andrew, near Prestbury.

After allegedly spending time in the swimming pool in his house, she went to a top floor bedroom to sleep and said she woke up to see Mendy raping her in the early hours of July 24, 2021.

Under cross-examination, Eleanor Laws QC, defending Mendy, asked the woman: ‘You find it difficult to explain why you went back, not once, 10 times to a house you say you were raped in?

She replied: ‘I tried to block this out of my mind and forget about it.’

Two other alleged victims who cannot be named for legal reasons – said Mendy forced himself onto them in the master bedroom and the downstairs office of his multi-million pound mansion. Both of them had a special locking mechanism, which created a ‘panic room’ in case of burglary which can only be opened from the inside not the outside.

Mendy’s lawyer, Barrister Laws, a woman, suggested the witness’ account of what happened, waking up to find Mendy raping her, was the ‘exact same’ allegation made by her friend, who the footballer is also accused of raping the same evening.

 The defence counsel showed the witness some clips from mobile phones, CCTV footage and photos of her at Mendy’s house on different days after the alleged rape, showing her enjoying herself.

The witness replied: ‘Honestly, I have no respect for you as a woman to take that off my phone and play it in front of a room full of people.’

Jurors were also shown CCTV from inside China White nightclub, at around 6am on August 23, with the woman.