Benjamin Mendy: Girl heard screaming 'rape' at party, trial told

A woman has told how she saw and heard a girl screaming "rape, rape" at a party attended by footballer Benjamin Mendy.

The Manchester City defender is accused of various offences including seven counts of rape.

His trial heard how co-accused Louis Saha Matturie started shouting at the woman to "shut up" as police banged on the door to break up the gathering.

The witness has accused Mr Matturie of sexually assaulting her in 2016.

The party took place at an apartment on Chapel Street near Manchester city centre at the end of January last year, the woman told Chester Crown Court.

She said the young woman had been in an upstairs room with other people, but she did not know who.

She said she told police the woman came out of the room "screaming her head off, shouting, 'rape, rape"'.

The witness told officers Mr Matturie, who was downstairs at the time, then "grabbed the girl and told her to shut up".

The court heard the police arrived and were banging on the door as the party was held during a coronavirus lockdown.

Officers were asking other party-goers about the girl but she had left the flat before police got in, the witness told the jury.

Earlier, the witness said she was 18 and living and working in Sheffield when she began to socialise with footballers and was then sexually assaulted by Mr Matturie, in 2016.

Later she began to socialise in Manchester from 2020 onwards and went to numerous parties, some attended by footballers, the "majority" of which took place during lockdown, she said.

The court then heard of a different party at the same apartment on Chapel Street in December 2020 attended by Mendy and his then team-mate, Raheem Sterling.

She was sitting on a sofa and Mr Sterling, who now plays for Chelsea, was passing by and tripped over her foot.

Lisa Wilding KC, defending Mr Matturie, asked the witness: "He tripped over you and he was aggressive with you?"

The witness agreed and said Mr Sterling called her "fat".

Ms Wilding continued: "And you were cross about that?

"One of your friends called him a four-foot gnome and properly insulted him and you felt better?"

The witness replied: "Not cross but confused as to why anyone can be aggressive to someone when tripping over a foot. Non-intentional."

Prosecutors have alleged Mr Mendy is a "predator" who "turned the pursuit of women for sex into a game", while Mr Matturie, his friend and "fixer", is 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 if any sex took place it was consensual.

The trial continues.

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