A jury hearing a rape and attempted rape case against Manchester City soccer player, Benjamin Mendy, was informed that the accused allegedly told a woman that he had slept with “10,000 women,” after sexually assaulting her.
According to the BBC, the 28-year-old French soccer player, whose case is being heard at the Chester Crown Court, allegedly assaulted the woman in October 2020 after he invited her to his mansion in the English county of Cheshire. Mendy also faces an attempted rape charge in connection to a different incident in 2017.
The judge overseeing the trial, Stephen Everett, informed the jury that Mendy was initially found not guilty of sexual crimes that a group of women had accused him of committing against them. He also informed them that Mendy had returned to court for a re-trial because verdicts on the rape and attempted rape charges could not be reached during that trial.
Everett cautioned the jurors to avoid reviewing the initial trial or following media reports, adding that they can only determine the accused’s fate with evidence that is presented to the court.
“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,” Benjamin Aina (King’s Counsel) said during the opening trial. “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.”
Aina added: “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.”
Aina said the French national and woman A initially met at a Barcelona club in 2017 before she and his friend got intimate. He shared that the following year, the woman came over to Mendy’s house to visit his friend, following a night out with the two individuals as well as other girls, BBC reported.
Mendy allegedly made his way into the ensuite bathroom as she was taking a shower the following morning. The soccer player, who was said to be “aroused”, entered uninvited and in boxer shorts. The 28-year-old allegedly attempted to rape the woman though she told him to stop more than once.
The court was also informed that in 2020, woman B and her friends were invited to Mendy’s home while they were at a bar close to the accused man’s residence. The woman claimed that the soccer player took her to his locked bedroom after getting hold of her cell phone – though she asked him to return it.
Aina informed the court that Mendy told the woman “I just wanna have a look at you” and told her to undress, per BBC. After the woman took her clothes off except her underwear, Mendy tossed her phone on the bed before allegedly raping her after she went to take her device. The woman told Mendy she wasn’t ready to have sex during the alleged assault.
“At this stage Mr Mendy took a step back and said ‘you’re too shy’,” Aina informed the jury. “Mr Mendy said, ‘It’s fine. I’ve had sex with 10,000 women’.”
Mendy has pleaded not guilty to both charges. He also told police any sexual contact with the two women was consensual.
