Man City star Benjamin Mendy and co-accused 'saw women as things to be used for sex then thrown to one side'

15 August 2022, 12:29 | Updated: 15 August 2022, 12:37

Benjamin Mendy used his status to rape women who he saw as "things to be used for sex", a court has heard.

The Manchester City full back, whose trial started on Monday, is accused of eight counts of rape, one of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault.

The 28-year-old France international saw women as "things to be used for sex, then thrown to one side" amid offences said to have been committed against seven women between October 2018 and last August, prosecutor Timothy Cray told jurors at Chester Crown Court.

"The prosecution case is simple. It has little to do with football. Instead, we say, it is another chapter in a very old story: men who rape and sexually assault women, because they think they are powerful, and because they think they can get away with it," he said.

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Mr Mendy, who denies the charges against him, is accused with Louis Saha Matturie, 40, of Eccles in Salford, who denies eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault relating to eight young women between July 2012 and August last year.

Mr Cray said Mr Mendy is "reasonably famous" and that others were prepared to "help him to get what he wanted" because of his wealth and status.

He said Mr Saha, a friend of the footballer's, was a fixer who would "find young women and to create the situations where those young women could be raped and sexually assaulted".

"The acts that the defendants did together show callous indifference to the women they went after," Mr Cray told jurors.

"In their minds, and this could not be clearer, the stream of women they brought to their homes existed purely to be pursued for sex.

"Our case is that the defendants' pursuit of these 13 women turned them into predators, who were prepared to commit serious sexual offences," he said, adding that they "would not take 'no' for an answer", which jurors will hear "time and time again".

Nine young women arrived at Mendy's home in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, on various dates between October 2018 and August last year before making allegations of rape or sexual assault against the defendants.

The alleged victims had their phones taken away upon arriving at the isolated mansion, with some thinking they had been left in locked rooms, Mr Cray said.

The age and wealth difference between the alleged victims and the defendants made them vulnerable, Mr Cray said.

Four complaints against Mr Saha happened in Manchester and Sheffield.

Mr Mendy and Mr Saha say the women consented to sex and only some of the allegations have been responded to with a denial that anything sexual took place.

Mr Cray added: "Ultimately, these cases are about where the line is drawn. You will be able to weigh up whether, in each case, the defendants crossed those lines because this is central, readily understandable life experience - you will know where the truth is after having heard the women concerned, the challenges to them and the other evidence that is relevant to the allegations in the charges."

The trial continues.