Since last weekend, Benjamin Mendy has been on trial for eight rapes, one attempted rape and one sexual assault against seven women. The 28-year-old footballer, who became world champion with the French football team in 2018 (in Russia) and suspended for a year by Manchester City, denies the ten charges which relate to facts which allegedly took place between October 2018 and August 2021 at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire. He faces life imprisonment.
Benjamin Mendy is not the only man on trial. Louis Saha Matturie – unrelated to former footballer Louis Saha – prosecuted for eight rapes and four sexual assaults on eight women between July 2012 and August 2021. He also pleaded not guilty.
After the first two days of trial devoted to the choice of jurors and the organization of hearings, the court got to the heart of the matter on Monday August 15, 2022 with the start of the prosecution’s statement.
“The case is simpleprosecutor Timothy Cray told jurors. It has nothing to do with football. It’s another chapter in a very old story: men who rape and assault women because they think they have power, and because they think they’ll get away with it.“
He called the two defendants “predators ready to commit serious sexual abuse“on young victims”vulnerable, terrified and isolated“, pointing out that the phone of some women could have been confiscated when they went to the player’s home.
An isolated mansion and a door with a special lock…
There was also talk of Benjamin Mendy’s mansion. The footballer’s large estate in Cheshire is said to have played a role in the “taking control of their victims“because of the character “isolated” of the mansion. Still according to the prosecutor, the vulnerability of women was “increased“when they were at Benjamin Mendy’s home. And that’s not all, the prosecutor also mentioned a door that has a rather special lock. This door could only be opened inside the room and according to Timothy Cray only one person knew how to unlock this system. According to the prosecutor who cites witnesses: “There have been rapes in these rooms“. And to continue: “Victims felt locked in by this special lockdown.“