Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy went on trial at Chester Crown Court in Cheshire. Accused of rape and sexual assault, the Frenchman had been in police custody for 134 days, finally receiving bail after three unsuccessful pleas in January 2022. The 28-year-old, charged with eight counts of rape and one count of attempted rape and another count of assault between October 2018 and August 2021, has denied the allegations, pleading not guilty. Suspended from the club, after much delay, he is among a bevvy of footballers recently accused of sexual misconduct.

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Prosecutor Timothy Cray QC began to reveal details of the accusations to jurors, highlighting the alleged misdemeanours. As per his statement, Mendy would lock women inside rooms in his mansion, The Spinney, using ‘panic room’ style latches before proceeding to rape them. Jurors were also shown footage from inside his house, demonstrating the mechanism of the locks used. They can only be unlocked from inside the room, preventing the entry of burglars.

“Those rooms each had a special locking door and two of the witnesses independently felt they were locked in behind these locking doors. On the master bedroom and office, there are special locks, the legitimate purpose of these locks is that if you are likely to be a target for burglars they create a panic room. You can’t get in from the outside but you can open them from the inside if you know what to do. The point is you have to know how to open them from the inside. The witnesses get the impression, when taken there by Mendy, they are locked in,” claimed Mr Cray during the trial.

Standing on trial alongside Mendy is his friend and go-between, Louis Saha Matturie. The 41-year-old allegedly helped find young women to attend his parties. The Eccles resident also denied all wrongdoing- eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault, including a couple who have allegedly suffered abuse from both.

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During the trial hearings, set to continue till November, Mr Cray alluded to their notions of power and wealth while dismissing their arguments that the women consented to sex “willingly and enthusiastically”:

“The defendants view of consent were miles away from where the complainants or any reasonable person would draw the line in terms of agreement to having sex by choice and being free and able to make that choice. The general attitude of them was that any girls at the gates of The Spinney or at the flat in Manchester and that door closed behind her- well that woman was available for sex. The defendants weren’t in some happy state of sexual ignorance, they knew very well what they were doing. They turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game. If a woman got hurt or distressed – too bad,” he added.

Drone footage of the footballer’s house was also shown to jurors. Situated on a dark stretch of rural road, bereft of street lights, it is surrounded by woods and fields.