Man City star Benjamin Mendy is a ‘predatory serial rapist’ who used his celebrity status ‘as a cover to hide the dark side’, court hears

Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy was today compared to Jimmy Savile as he was branded a ‘predatory serial rapist’ by the lawyer who is suing him at trial.

A jury was told as the case entered the closing speeches stage that left-back Mendy, 28, could not come to terms with who he really was.

Prosecutor Tim Cray KC told Chester Crown Court that, like Savile, Mendy had used his celebrity status to hide his dark side.

And his co-defendant and alleged fixer Louis Saha Matturie, 41, was accused of living in an ‘unreal word’ featuring ‘arrogant assumptions that every woman who came to their parties was good for sex’.

Mendy denies seven counts of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. Matturie denies six rapes and three sexual assaults.

Mr Cray told the jury of eight men and four women in his closing speech: ‘For all the good sides of Benjamin Mendy’s character, there is a dangerous streak that makes him a predator.’ We say a predatory serial rapist.

“We say Matturie shares the same dangerous streak towards young women he meets and took the opportunity to have sex with a woman half his age.

“The situations these plaintiffs found themselves in were toxic and dangerous. The danger was created by the defendants. The parties had an ever-changing cast of young women where the defendants had knowledge and control.

“It gave them the opportunity to abuse that knowledge and that power. The defendants lived and still live in an unreal world. Mr Mendy conceded that it was only prison that had failed him and started him to change his ways.

“But this concession does not go far enough. The defendants still cannot face what they did or the real harm they caused.

Mr Cray said the fact that Mendy did not use a condom showed he had ‘no interest’ in women’s interests or the risks of sexually transmitted diseases or pregnancy.

He said the similarities in the allegations between some of the plaintiffs were “obvious”.

Mr Cray said: ‘They were all young women. They found themselves alone with the defendants. He was the one who made sure they were alone. He either raped them or attempted to rape them.

He added: “These parties had an ever-changing cast of young women and both defendants wanted and had sex with them. Sure, there were women who agreed to have consensual sex, but the defendants made the arrogant assumption that if they were at the party, they were good for sex.

“And when some weren’t, it made it more likely that they wouldn’t hear the word ‘no’.” They thought they could get away with it.

He said Mendy now accepts his world was ‘out of control with sex, money and parties’ but showed no remorse or ‘grasped that his behavior crossed the line and would get him in trouble’.

Mr Cray told the jury: ‘Fame is absolutely no guarantee of good character. Fame in general is a very good cover to hide the dark side of your life and get away with it. Look at Jimmy Savile who deceived the nation.

Elanor Laws, KC, for Mendy, told the court in her defense closing speech that Mendy’s £4.7million home in Prestbury, Cheshire was ‘not a house of horrors’.

She said: “These parties were chaotic and open with very little security. These women not only wanted to go, but they went back again and again. This is not a grooming or sex trafficking trial. We are not dealing with children or girls who had no choice. They are not vulnerable teenagers who have no choice in their way of life.

“They wanted to go to these parties. They want to go clubbing, go to VIP areas, dance and have fun and meet people like Mr Mendy. They wanted some stardust by meeting a footballer.

“These are young women who decide for themselves to have sex with people they have never met before. It is their choice. It’s not a morals court and they decide to have sex without contraception.

“The prosecution makes them look like victims, but in the real world, these are women who went to parties, made adult choices and sometimes regretted them.”

The trial continues.