process start
Benjamin Mendy: Football star is said to have imprisoned and raped women
Football star in court: Benjamin Mendy is said to have raped seven women in his villa near Manchester.
Benjamin Mendy wrote long headlines as a football star. But the 28-year-old has been under investigation since last year, and he is accused of rape in eight cases. He and an accomplice are said to have acted unscrupulously and locked up some of the women. Now the process has started.
Benjamin Mendy is a star. The full-back from Manchester City became soccer world champion with France in 2018, celebrated three championship titles in England and several other titles with the Sheikh Club, and he is said to earn around 5.5 million euros a year. Now the 28-year-old is on trial in Great Britain, accused of seven counts of rape, attempted rape and sexual harassment. The incidents are believed to have happened between October 2018 and August 2021.
Mendy denies the allegations, on Monday more details about the processes came to light. They are said to have happened in the remote Villa Mendys in Mottram St. Andrew, a village of 500 people near Manchester. According to prosecutors, the 28-year-old used his fame and notoriety to lure women to the guarded property. “Fame brings attention and fame also brings money. As a result, others were willing to help him and bring him what he wanted,” prosecutor Timothy Cray said in court on Monday, according to the Guardian.
Benjamin Mendy and his partner acted ruthlessly
Mendy is said not to have acted alone in his possible crimes. Louis Saha Matturie, known as Saha, was specifically looking for women in nightclubs. “It was one of his jobs to find young women and make it possible for Benjamin Mendy to rape them,” Cray accused the accomplice. For example, in July 2021, Saha gave a woman money to attend a party at Mendy’s house instead of working in a nightclub in the evening. At the party, Mendy then raped her in his private cinema without a condom, she told the police. Meanwhile, two of Mendy’s acquaintances prevented a friend of the victim from looking for her.
However, Saha himself is said not only to have brought the women to Mendy, but also to have passed them. Two women told police they were passed back and forth between Saha and Mendy at parties. One of the women was said to have been so drunk that she only knew about the rape by both men after Saha and Mendy’s sperm was found in her underwear. Saha is also on trial for rape and other sexual offenses. Five of the women said they were only raped by Mendy, three of them in one night. Six accuse Saha of rape. According to the BBC, the average age of the victims is 20 years and nine months, the youngest victim was 17 at the time of the crime. The prosecutor explained that the two men had acted with “callous indifference” in their crimes. The victims were mainly women who were “so drunk that they had little or no memory of the incidents or who were asleep”.
How unscrupulous the two men apparently acted is evident from the testimonies given to the police. Accordingly, some of the women should have handed in their cell phones in the villa. “I can imagine that it was about Pep Guardiola[Manchester City manager, ed.]noticing on social media about the late-night parties with lots of girls,” said Cray. However, the women would not have had any opportunity to call for help. Two women also accuse the two men of being locked in specially prepared rooms that resembled a panic room. These are often installed in villas to seek protection in the event of burglaries, for example. A video was shown in court, which is supposed to show the prepared locks in the rooms, an office and a bedroom. “You have to know how to open the doors again from the inside. Perhaps you can see why the witnesses had the impression that they had been locked in,” Cray addressed the jury.
Benjamin Mendy denies allegations
Mendy and Saha deny the allegations. Her defense attorneys say the sex was consensual and there were only a few allegations, none of which were sexual.
Prosecutor Cray pointed out that every person has the dignity to say no to sex. “And you don’t lose that right if you go to a bar, dress up to go to a nightclub or go to a footballer’s party.”
Mendy was arrested by British police last August and was held in custody, which he was allowed to leave in January under strict conditions. Manchester City, the footballer’s employer, have suspended Mendy pending the conclusion of the case. The process is expected to take 15 weeks.
Sources: Guardians, BBC, dailymail, dpa, afp