Man City star Benjamin Mendy ‘grabbed woman’s privates and made licking gesture’

Manchester City star Benjamin Mendy grabbed a woman’s vagina and then asked why she was angry, a court heard.

The 28-year-old is accused of sexually assaulting the woman in his kitchen during a pool party at his house in January 2021, which he denies.

Today a court heard the French international put his hand between the woman’s legs without speaking to her beforehand or saying anything during the alleged sexual assault.

In a police interview, shown to a jury at Chester Crown Court today, the woman said Mendy later asked her why she was angry and told her: “You look better when you smile.”

She told a detective: “I was just shocked. I was just taken aback by it. I was just shocked in realising what happened.”

He then made a rude hand gesture at her, the court heard, with the woman adding: “He gestured as if he was licking, so put his tongue out as if he was licking me.”

Mendy is accused of a total of eight counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and another count of sexual assault. He denies all charges.

The court heard the alleged offences took place on five different occasions at his home in Cheshire between October 2018 and August last year.

In her police interview, the woman, who will be the third alleged victim jurors will hear from this afternoon, told a detective she was partying at Mendy’s house on New Year’s Day.

She said she did not know Mendy beforehand, but was with a friend who knew him.

She said they arrived after midnight and people were there “having a good time, playing games and drinking”.

The woman described going up to the home’s kitchen island at around 3am to get some food and was approached by Mendy.

She said: “I was just going to see what was there and that’s when he grabbed my vagina. My dress was loose, it was like a skater skirt dress.

“I did have underwear on but I literally felt his fingers touch my vagina like in between my vagina. I would say [it lasted for] a couple of seconds.

“It wasn’t brief. It was like he was really trying to grab me so I felt his fingers actually grab the inside of… not inside, because I was still wearing my knickers, but I felt his fingers in there basically.”

She said the guests got into the swimming pool and she took a shirt from Mendy’s laundry room to wear in the pool as she hadn’t brought a swimming costume.

The witness said: “We weren’t leaving because we were already intoxicated. I just thought I’m here now, might as well. Like what am I going to do? So I just continued drinking.

“And I did keep my distance from him throughout the whole time we were in the pool. He did come up to me a couple of times but I continued to keep my distance and then he came right up close to my face and was just like ‘you look better when you smile’ and I just thought ‘right okay, well I’m not going to smile’.

“He said ‘Why are you angry?’ and I said ‘You know exactly why I’m angry’ and he said ‘Why?’ and I said ‘Because of how you touched me’.

“That’s when he was apologising, he said he’s really sorry he didn’t mean to make me uncomfortable and he swears to God he didn’t mean to make me uncomfortable and that wasn’t his intention.

“And then at this point, I was just like okay. I was trying to walk away and he was trying to call a truce I guess, which I wasn’t reacting to and I was sort of just ignoring him and I said ‘It’s fine, whatever’ and then we went our separate ways.”

She told jurors Mendy gave her some dry clothes after everyone had gone out of the pool.

Also on trial is Mendy’s friend and alleged “fixer” Louis Saha Matturie, 41, who allegedly helped find young women for Mendy and was present at parties where women claim they were raped.

Saha, of Eccles, denies eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault against seven different women – two of whom Mendy is also accused of raping.

Mr Cray said Mendy and Saha will argue the women “consented to sex willingly and often enthusiastically”.

The trial continues.