In the moments after the alleged attack, the young lady who accuses Manchester City player Benjamin Mendy of sexually assaulting her in a closed room, according to a friend of the victim, “looked like she had seen a ghost.”
The companion said that after the 20-year-old went missing with Mendy for around 20 minutes at a party at the Manchester City star’s £4.8 million Cheshire property, she had gone to hunt for the woman, whom she considered “as a sister.”
The witness said at Chester Crown Court that she saw her companion leaving an upper bedroom and heading downstairs.
How did she seem to you, Timothy Cray QC, the prosecutor for Mendy, 28, who is accused of many sex assaults, questioned the friend?
“She looked like she had seen a ghost,” the witness retorted. She had a vacant expression. She had a lifeless expression.
The prosecution heard that shortly after, the rape complainant informed her companion that she was “extremely ready” to leave and go home.
The 20-year-old attempted to “brush off” the event when they arrived to her house and told her buddy she was “fine,” according to the witness.
However, the buddy testified to the jury that she also discussed “being in a scenario where you don’t want to do anything, feel coerced so you just go along with whatever.”
The complainant claimed that Mendy had promised not to touch her if she undressed while he looked at her, but the next morning claimed that Mendy had ‘pressed’ her down on a bed and sexually assaulted her.
The court had previously been informed that both young ladies had been part of a group of four friends who, on October 11, 2020, returned to Mendy’s house after a night out.
Mendy had warned the girls not to use their phones while they were at his house because he didn’t want them to be caught breaching Covid guidelines.
The 20-year-old lady had hers hidden in her bra and was reading through her phone near a swimming pool when he approached and’snatched’ the phone from her, the court has been told. He did this to see whether she had been shooting images and sharing them on social media.
She said that after informing the player she did not want sex, he brought her to an upstairs bedroom where the alleged sex assault took place despite her request for it to be returned.
Mendy, according to the prosecution, is a “predator” who “made the pursuit of women for sex into a game.”
The accused victim self-referred 44 hours after the event, a doctor at a Manchester sexual assault referral center had told the court.
Despite the fact that the complainant had complained of substantial bleeding the day before, Dr. Kirsten Beattie stated she could not find any injuries.
The medical professional said that whether or not there had been consenting or non-consensual sex could not be determined by the lack of any injuries.
Mendy disputes eight charges of rape, one charge of attempted rape, and one charge of sexual assault involving seven young women.
The football player’s buddy and fixer, Louis Saha Matturie, 41, is a co-accused and is accused of having the responsibility of locating young ladies for sex.
Matturie, of Eccles, Salford, denies four charges of sexual assault and eight counts of rape involving eight young people.
If any sexual activity did occur with women or girls, according to both males, it was consenting.
The trial goes on.