Monday, August 15, 2022 at 6:39 PM• Jonathan van Haaster • Last update: 19:01

Benjamin Mendy was ordered to appear in Chester Crown court on Monday, where gruesome and deeply shocking details emerged about his rape case. For example, the 28-year-old left-back would have led women to closed ‘panic rooms’ in his villa, to rape them there if the women did not want to have sex with him.

The jury in court heard that the footballer, still under contract with Manchester City, has abused his fame and fame to lure women to his locked villa in Cheshire. When the women refused to have sex with Mendy or were drunk, the defender turned to rape. Mendy found many of those women in Manchester nightclubs, often with the help of so-called ‘fixer’ Louis Saha Matturie. He has also been taken to court with multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault. According to prosecutor Timothy Cray, Saha’s job was to “find young women and create the situation where these young women could be raped and sexually assaulted.”

The couple are accused of showing ‘heartless indifference’ towards the 13 young women they allegedly abused. The “sexual conquest” of young women became a game for the two. Prosecutor Timothy Cray told the jury that Mendy was a “fairly famous” football player at the time of his criminal activity. “He played for Manchester City and won the World Cup with the French national team. The successes brought fame and money. Mendy misused wealth and status to find others to help him get what he wanted.”

Two of the women have told police they were ‘exchanged’ by Mendy and Saha at the footballer’s villa. Five women have said they have been raped or sexually assaulted by Mendy alone, while six have said they had experienced the same with Saha. Both men have denied all 22 charges. The charges filed against Mendy are said to have occurred between October 2018 and 2021.