A court heard Tuesday that the alleged victim of a sex assault by Premier League player Benjamin Mendy planned to sue Manchester City.
She shared a WhatsApp group called “Sunday Shlagggs” with another accuser who says the City star sexually assaulted her three times.
The information was made public yesterday at Chester Crown Court, where the claimed triple rape victim was being cross-examined by Eleanor Laws QC, Mendy’s defence attorney.
At Mendy’s £4.8 million property in Prestbury, Cheshire, the lady testified to the jury that she was raped three times over the course of a 15-minute assault in a closed room in October 2020.
She was questioned on her statement to the police that she had only ever met the other complainant, who alleges Mendy sexually assaulted her in January 2021.
Ms. Laws, however, claimed that they belonged to the WhatsApp group, had gone on vacation together, and had gone out for dinner and drinks 25 times in a calendar year.
The second complainant had made her complaint to police two days after exchanging messages on WhatsApp, and the lawyer said the lady was “trying to diminish” how well she knew the other complainant.
Do you know that she wanted to sue Man City for what had happened to her? Ms. Laws questioned. She claims that Mr. Mendy groped her crotch region while she was wearing clothes.
‘I don’t recall,’ the witness said.
She said, “I was not aware of her charges beyond the fact that she had experienced sexual assault. When I heard, I was horrified. I missed two months at work.
The complainant acknowledged that she had encouraged acquaintances to record her statements over the two-week period between the alleged incident and her filing a police complaint.
“I wanted to be clear since it had been two weeks since that night,” she stated. I wanted to be transparent since I wasn’t myself and was having a lot of trouble. I wanted someone to take notes so I could be sure since I felt like I was in a bit of a haze.
It was really challenging due to the stress, trauma, and embarrassment.
At that point in early November, Ms. Laws said, “You had convinced yourself that you truly were a victim in all of this.” Instead of believing that Mr. Mendy had done something completely consensual, you convinced yourself that he had.
The lady said, “I am certain that’s what occurred. I never gave my permission to anything. I didn’t have to convince myself.
When she said in her testimony that she had not yelled, she was questioned whether she recalled telling her mother that she had been fighting Mendy off and had been screaming.
No, the lady said, “I did not shout.”
Mrs. Laws said You lie when you are cornered, don’t you? You did begin to embellish and lie to your buddies, didn’t you?
Absolutely not, the lady said.
Ms. Laws: “You did things in that room with Mr. Mendy when you were intoxicated that you afterwards regretted and felt ashamed about.”
No, she answered, “absolutely not.”
Mendy, 28, is accused of raping five women on eight occasions while also being accused of one rape attempt and one sexual assault.
Louis Saha Matturie, his co-defendant and alleged “fixer,” is 41 years old and is from Eccles in Greater Manchester. He denies eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault.
The trial goes on.