It was expected.
This Monday morning, during a pretrial hearing for his trial, scheduled from July 25 for six weeks, Benjamin Mendy, the fallen world champion of Manchester City, unsurprisingly pleaded not guilty.
He is the subject of nine counts, seven rapes (by four complainants), an attempted rape and a sexual assault, facts which allegedly took place between October 2018 and August 2021 at his home in Prestbury, Cheshire .
In Courtroom Number 1 at Chester District Court, Mendy, in a dark tie suit, pronounced "not guilty" nine times when the sexual offense charges against him were read.
His co-accused Louis Saha Matturie, a supposed member of his entourage, who was seated next to him in the dock, also pleaded "not guilty" to the twelve charges against him, including eight counts of rape.
Read also“Nobody was able to put him back on the right track”: Benjamin Mendy, from the world title to prison
Mendy, 27, who was accompanied by a bodyguard, spoke for the first time in British justice.
He has maintained the same posture since he denies the accusations against him since the start of this case, which publicly broke out at the end of August 2021 when his club Manchester City announced the suspension of the player, under contract until June 2023, without further explanation.
English justice then quickly announced that the player had been placed in pre-trial detention after being accused of four rapes and a sexual assault, by three women including a minor.
Other charges were then added.
After several months in pre-trial detention, the former defender trained in Le Havre then passed through Marseille and Monaco, bought in 2017, 52 million pounds (about 61.4 million euros),
His career was then hampered by injuries highlighting his uncertain lifestyle and extra-sporting escapades such as the seizure of his Lamborghini, worth more than 500,000 euros, which he drove without a license or insurance.
Before this serious case.