The lady accusing former Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy of rape, has alleged that he told her that he has slept with 10,000 women.
The Manchester City star, who has been released from the club, is accused of attacking two women. He is facing a retrial on one count of rape and one count of attempted rape.
The jury of six women and six men were told by the trial Judge Stephen Everett, the Recorder of Chester, that the French international footballer was found not guilty of sexual offences alleged by other women after a trial that ended in January this year.
He told jurors that the jury last time could not reach verdicts on the two charges they are hearing, that of rape and attempted rape, hence his re-trial on those two charges.
The judge warned them not to look up details of the past trial or follow coverage in the media, and only decide the case on the evidence heard in court in the current trial.
In his opening statement at the trial, the prosecutor Benjamin Aina said;
“Benjamin Mendy is a footballer who was under contract to Manchester City FC. He would have parties and social gatherings at his home, The Spinney, in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire. He would have both male and female guests at his social gatherings.
“It is the prosecution case that on two occasions Mr Mendy took advantage of two of his female guests. On one occasion he tried to have forced sex with a female guest, woman A. On another occasion, he raped a female guest in one of his bedrooms, woman B.”
Outlining details of the alleged rape of woman B, Aina said Mendy led her to his bedroom where she asked for her phone back. The court heard she was concerned because it contained “intimate” images.
In the locked bedroom, Aina said, Mendy told the woman he just wanted to look at her, telling her to take her clothes off. Woman B complied, leaving her underwear on, and Mendy then threw her phone on the bed, the court heard.
As she went to retrieve it, Mendy is alleged to have taken hold of her from behind and raped her despite her telling him she did not want to have sex.
Aina told the jury: “At this stage, Mr. Mendy took a step back and said: ‘You’re too shy.’ Mr Benjamin Mendy said: ‘It’s fine. I’ve had sex with 10,000 women.’”
Outlining the attempted rape charge, Aina said Mendy first met woman A, a British student, while in a nightclub in Barcelona in late 2017 and she became intimate with one of his friends.
They kept in touch and a year later she arranged to visit Mendy’s friend at the footballer’s house, where they stayed after they all went with other young women for a night out.
The morning after, when she took a shower in the en suite bathroom, Mendy appeared, uninvited, wearing just boxer shorts and holding himself, and he was “aroused”, the court heard.
Mendy is alleged to have grabbed the woman and tried to rape her on the bed as she tried to struggle free and repeatedly told him to stop.
Mendy told police that on both occasions any sexual contact was consensual and he denied any wrongdoing.
The trial continues and is expected to last three weeks.
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