"
Don't tell anyone and you can come back here every night
."
The day after a first testimony, the jury at the trial of Benjamin Mendy heard Thursday the poignant testimony of an alleged victim, who claimed to have been raped several times by the French international despite his repeated refusals.
In a recording played at the trial in Chester, near Liverpool, the 20-year-old said she met Mendy and friends at a bar near the footballer's home in October 2020 and agreed to go there afterwards.
On the spot, while she was consulting her phone, Mendy grabbed it, accusing her of having taken photos of him, according to her.
She then chased him into the house, to his bedroom, the opening of which was triggered by fingerprint.
The door closed behind them.
Read alsoBenjamin Mendy trial: an alleged victim says he was assaulted in the shower
“
Look, I want my phone, I don't know what you're thinking.
I don't want to have sex with you
,” she recalled saying.
The player's response, according to her: "
anyway, the door is locked
".
From the same source, Mendy then forced her to undress and raped her three times in about twenty minutes, despite her repeated refusals: "
I don't want to do that (...) I have to leave
".
“
My body was so tense, I was in a lot of pain
,” she recalled, saying that she bled after these forced reports.
She said Mendy, after the rapes, called her "
shy
", boasted of having sex with "
10,000 women
" and tried to obtain her silence in exchange for a return to the days following.
"
As if it had been a privilege to come every night to do this with him
," added the young woman.
“
I said no many times
”
"
I said no a lot of times, that's what really makes me angry
," added the one who filed a complaint three weeks later, after speaking to her relatives and to professionals specializing in the reception of victims of sexual violence.
The day after the rapes of which she accuses Mendy, the young woman said she received a Snapchat message from the player, with a series of question marks.
Benjamin Mendy is on trial alongside another man, Louis Saha Matturie - unrelated to former footballer Louis Saha -, prosecuted for eight rapes and four sexual assaults on eight women between July 2012 and August 2021. Like Mendy, he has pleaded not guilty.
Read alsoFive questions to understand the Benjamin Mendy affair
The alleged victim heard Thursday claimed that Matturie, a member of Mendy's entourage, also wrote to him the next day via message on his phone: "
Are you okay?
Call me, let's talk
."
She did not answer but took screenshots, before blocking the numbers, according to her.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
