Woman returned to Benjamin Mendy’s mansion after alleged rape, court hears

A young woman told a court she went back to Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy’s Cheshire mansion despite him allegedly raping her there.

Jurors trying Mendy at Chester Crown Court were also shown footage from a Manchester nightclub showing Mendy dancing on a table, with his trousers half-way down and his top off.

A month earlier the woman, aged 19 at the time, said she was raped by Mendy after visiting the same club, China White, and returning to his home in Mottram St Andrew, near Prestbury.

After spending time in the swimming pool, she went to a top floor bedroom to sleep and said she was awoken by Mendy raping her in the early hours of July 24th, last year.

Under cross-examination, Eleanor Laws QC, defending Mendy, asked the woman: “You find it difficult to explain why you went back, not once, 10 times to a house you say you were raped in?

She replied: “I tried to block this out of my mind and forget about it.”

Ms Laws suggested her account of what happened, waking up to find Mendy raping her, was the “exact same” allegation made by her friend, who the footballer is also accused of raping the same evening.

The witness was shown clips from mobile phones, CCTV footage and photos of her at Mendy’s house on different days after the alleged rape, some of, it was suggested, showing her enjoying herself.

The witness replied: “Honestly, I have no respect for you as a woman to take that off my phone and play it in front of a room full of people.”

Jurors were also shown CCTV from inside China White nightclub, at around 6am on August 23rd, with the woman dancing, wearing a white bikini top and Mendy also present.

This showed, Ms Laws suggested, she was “perfectly comfortable” in his company.

The woman replied: “He was