Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy, 28, is being accused of sexual assaults on two women at his £4m mansion. The footballer allegedly attempted to rape a 29-year-old woman who stayed overnight at his property in October 2018.
In her closing speech, Eleanor Laws, defending, urged the jury to question the evidence presented in the case, noting “lies, inconsistencies and very strange things” in the accusers’ accounts.
Laws cautioned against making assumptions about Mendy’s lifestyle and cautioned the jury about drawing conclusions that make him out to be a ‘sexual predator’.
She emphasized that Mendy’s encounters were consensual and urged the jury to consider the reality of his wealthy and attractive status, stating, “It may be a masculine thing… But the reality is there were women who were engaging and consenting as well.”
The first woman met Mendy at a nightclub in Barcelona in October 2017 and later visited his mansion with a friend. The second woman encountered Mendy at a bar in Alderley Edge, Cheshire.
At the beginning of the trial, Judge Stephen Everett informed the jury that Mendy had been acquitted of previous allegations and asked them to focus solely on the current case.
