The 28-year-old French defender, Benjamin Mendy, accused of multiple rapes in England, was presented this Monday to the jury as a "predator" who abused "vulnerable, terrified, and isolated" victims. As a reminder, the footballer, suspended for one year by Manchester City, is being tried in the English city of Chester for eight rapes, an attempted rape, and a sexual assault against seven women.
Although Benjamin Mendy denies the ten charges against him, which allegedly occurred between October 2018 and August 2021 at his home, he faces a life sentence.
Strong statements from the prosecutor against Mendy
In the same trial, another man, Louis Saha Matturie, is also accused of eight rapes and four sexual assaults against eight women between July 2012 and August 2021.
"The case is simple," said prosecutor Timothy Cray to the jury on Monday. "It doesn't have much to do with football. It's another chapter in a very old story: men who rape and assault women because they believe they have power and because they believe they will get away with it," he continued.
Cray described both defendants as "predators willing to commit serious sexual abuses" against "vulnerable, terrified, and isolated" young victims, and pointed out that some women's phones may have been confiscated when they went to the player's house.
The prosecutor also provided details about the links between Mendy and Saha, which had not been clarified until now. Saha, according to Cray, was a friend of Mendy and responsible for "finding young women and creating situations in which they could be raped and sexually assaulted".
"Ask yourselves," said Cray to the jury members, "who had the power and control in the situations these women experienced?".
At that time, Benjamin Mendy was living "a period of success and enjoying a privileged life", he added. "The doors of restaurants and nightclubs were opened for him, people wanted to be with him," and "Saha was part of this world, contacting the girls, calling them," he explained.
According to the prosecutor, the defendants "knew very well what they were doing" and were "willing to cross the line" of consent "again and again."
A lengthy process
The trial against Benjamin Mendy, taking place at Chester Crown Court in southwest Manchester, is expected to last more than three months.
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