Benjamin Mendy was a ‘predator’ who ‘engineered situations’ to rape women, court told

The trial of Mendy and co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie began on Monday

Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has been accused of 'engineering situations' where he could rape and sexually assault women as his trial began at Chester Crown Court on Monday. The 28-year-old is accused of a total of eight counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault. He denies all charges against him. He is on trial alongside his friend, Louis Saha Matturie, who denies eight counts of rape and four counts of sexual assault. The prosecution's opening statement was read out by Timothy Cray QC on Monday morning, detailing how 13 witnesses had provided evidence against the two men. [caption id="attachment_354054" align="alignnone" width="640"] Mendy pictured arriving at court on Monday (Getty)[/caption] "The prosecution case is simple," Cray said. "It has little to do with football. Instead, we say, it is another chapter in a very old story: men who rape and sexually assault women, because they think they are powerful, and because they think they can get away with it," the prosecution began. "These women were disposable: things to be used for sex, then thrown to one side. That was the effect of deliberate, planned, choices the defendants made, and the desires they let loose many times." The prosecution claimed all the majority of the alleged incidents took place at Mendy's home address, with four separate incidents taking place against Matturie elsewhere. Matturie was described as being the "fixer", with the prosecution continuing: "He had use of a flat in Manchester that Mendy paid for and, during 2018 -2021, they were very close. "The allegations show that one of Saha’s jobs for Mendy was to find young women and to create the situations where those young women could be raped and sexually assaulted. "The acts that the defendants did together show callous indifference to the women they went after. In their minds, and this could not be clearer, the stream of women they brought to their homes existed purely to be pursued for sex." [caption id="attachment_354055" align="alignnone" width="640"] Mendy stands trial with co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie (pictured), who also denies charges against him (Getty)[/caption] The prosecution claimed that the men's pursuit of the women made them "predators", and the court heard how they were accused of taking away mobile phones belonging to some of the complainants. "The fact they would not take ‘no’ for an answer, or that they engineered situations where ‘no’ was not even an option, is something you will hear time and time again." Mendy was taken into custody after he was charged in August of last year. He was later granted bail in January on the condition he lived at his home address, gave up his passport and did not to contact the complainants. He was suspended by City after being charged by police.