“Predator of vulnerable women”: the prosecutor’s harsh accusation against the world champion accused of eight rapes

Benjamin MendiManchester City’s French defender, accused of several rapes in England, was presented to the jury on Monday as “predator” who abused the victims “vulnerable, terrified and isolated”.

The world champion in Russia 2018 is tried in Chester, in the north of England, for eight rapes, one attempt for the same act and one sexual assault against seven women.

Mendy, 28 and banned for one season at Manchester City, denies ten charges against him regarding events that took place between October 2018 and August 2021 at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire. The footballer faces life imprisonment.

In the same trial, another man, Louis Saha Matturie, who has no relationship with former footballer Louis Saha, is also accused of eight rapes and four sexual assaults on eight women between July 2012 and August 2021. He has also pleaded not guilty.

After the first two days of the trial dedicated to the selection of the jury and the organization of the hearings, on Monday the court focused on the matter with the opening of the exposure of the prosecution.

“The case is simple”prosecutor Timothy Cray told the jury. “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 think they have the power and because they think they can get away with it“, He continued.

Cray called the two defendants “predators willing to commit serious sexual abuse” on young victims “vulnerable, terrified and isolated”, noting that some of the women’s phones may have been confiscated when they went to the player’s home.

The prosecutor also shed light on the links between Mendy and Saha, which until now had not been clarified. Mendy’s friend Saha, according to Cray, was responsible for “finding young women and creating situations where they could be raped and sexually assaulted.”

“Ask yourself,” Cray challenged the jurors, “who had the power and control in the situations these women have been through?”

The highly publicized trial at Chester Crown Court in southwest Manchester is expected to take more than three months.

Winner of the 2018 World Cup with the French national team, where he played an important role, Mendy spent more than four months, from August 2021 to January 2022, in custody. Released in early January, the French player was placed under judicial control pending the trial that has just begun.

Trained in Le Havre, made his name at Olympique de Marseille and spent a season at Monaco, Mendy became the most expensive defender in history in 2017 after the Citizens spent £ 52m ($ 62.5m). ) to hire him.

Source: AFP