Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy says he ‘slept with 10,000 women’, as rape retrial begins

June 29, 2023, 19:45

Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy told a woman who accused him of rape that he had slept with 10,000 women, a court heard.

Mendy, 28, is in court for a retrial after jurors failed to reach a verdict on two counts in his first rape trial.

He was accused of raping a woman, who was aged 24 at the time, at his £4 million mansion in Cheshire in October 2020.

He was also accused of attempting to rape another woman, who was 29 at the time, two years earlier.

Mendy, who is about to be released by his club, has denied both allegations.

The jury at Chester Crown Court was told by judge Stephen Everett that French international footballer Mendy was found not guilty of sexual offenses alleged by other women after the trial ended in January this year.

Read more: Man City star Benjamin Mendy will face a retrial after being cleared of six counts of rape and sexual assault

Read more: Man City star Benjamin Mendy and co-accused ‘saw women as objects to be used for sex then thrown aside’

Mendy was cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against four women in January.

Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on one count of rape and one count of attempted rape against two other alleged victims – meaning Mendy will have to be retried.

The judge warned them not to look for details of the previous trial or follow the media coverage, and to decide the case only on the evidence heard in court in the current trial.

Benjamin Aina KC, opening the jury trial, said: “Benjamin Mendy is a footballer who is under contract with Manchester City FC. He would have parties and social gatherings at his home, The Spinney, in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire.

“He would have both male and female guests at his social gatherings. It is the prosecution’s case that on two occasions Mr Mendy took advantage of two of his female guests.

“On one occasion he tried to have sex with a female guest, the woman A.

“On another occasion he raped a female guest in one of his rooms, female B.”

Mr Aina said Mendy first met woman A, a student in the UK, while at a nightclub in Barcelona in late 2017 and became intimate with one of his friends.

They kept in touch and a year later he arranged to visit Mendy’s friend at the footballer’s house, where they stayed after they all joined other girls for a night-out.

The next morning, when he showered in the en-suite bathroom, Mendy appeared uninvited, wearing only boxer shorts, and holding himself, and he was “excited”, the court heard.

Mendy then allegedly grabbed the woman and tried to pull her onto the bed as she tried to break free, despite her repeated requests for him to stop.

Two years later, woman B was out with friends in a bar in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, near Mendy’s home, when they were invited back to the footballer’s home.

She alleges Mendy took her phone from her, which contained “intimate” photos, then took her to his locked bedroom, as she demanded her phone back.

Mr Aina said Mendy told him “I just want to look at you” and told him to take off his clothes.

Woman B followed suit, leaving her underwear behind, and then Mendy threw her phone on the bed.

When he went to pick it up, Mendy allegedly grabbed her from behind and raped her despite her saying she didn’t want to have sex.

Mr Aina told the jury: “At this stage, Mr Mendy withdrew and said ‘you are too shy’.

“Mr Mendy said, ‘It’s fine. I’ve had sex with 10,000 women’.”

Mendy told police on both occasions that any sex was consensual and denied any wrongdoing.

The trial continues.

Mendy has not played for Manchester City in two years, since he was first arrested, and is due to be released on Friday.