Benjamin Mendy: Woman tells court she was raped by footballer's friend

A woman has told a court she did not make up an allegation of rape against a friend of Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy.

The woman, who was aged 19 at the time of the alleged attack, told Chester Crown Court she woke up to find Louis Saha Matturie, 41, having sex with her at his Manchester flat.

When asked if the rape claim was made out of "embarrassment", she said: "No."

Mr Mendy and Mr Matturie deny a number of sexual offences.

The court was told the woman had been to a party in March 2021 and told friends she could not remember a lot of the evening and had blacked out.

The jury heard that she believed her drinks might have been spiked.

Lisa Wilding KC, representing Mr Matturie, suggested he and the woman had consensual sex twice, and the rape allegation was made out of "embarrassment" because he was an older man.

Addressing the woman, Ms Wilding asked her if the "truth" was that the "following morning", she had realised she "had had sex with a man you had only met that night?"

"No," the woman replied, adding: "I knew something wrong had happened."

Ms Wilding said the woman had described Mr Matturie to her friends as an "ugly" older man with "wrinkles", and had suggested her drink might have been spiked because she was "embarrassed" about what had happened.

"I suggest you did say these things and said them because you wanted your friends to think you would not have had sex with him," she said.

"Were you trying to justify to your friends why you would not have had sex with Saha, because you didn't find him attractive?

"Were you trying to justify to yourself you had not consented because he was not your type?"

The woman replied: "No."

The woman has admitted that she was "quite drunk" at Mr Matturie's flat and had been drinking while also taking medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The court was told that three weeks later, on 8 April, Mr Matturie allegedly raped the woman's 17-year-old friend at the flat, despite the woman warning the girl not to go back to his home.

Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting, asked the woman why she told her friend "not to go back to the flat".

"Because, obviously, I knew what type of man he was," she replied.

Prosecutors have alleged Mr Mendy was a "predator" who "turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game", while Mr Matturie was alleged to have had the job of finding young women for sex.

Mr Mendy denies seven counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against six young women.

Mr Matturie, of Eccles, Salford, denies six counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault relating to seven young women.

Both men have said that if any sex did take place with women or girls, it was consensual.

The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.

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