Footballer Benjamin Mendy has claimed it was “so easy” to pick up women as a Manchester City player.
But Mendy admits a prison stint has made him realise he had been “disrespectful”.
The 28-year-old gave evidence to his trial this afternoon describing his party lifestyle while playing for the Premier League side. He also said he “did not worry” about contraception and having sex with different women on the same night. And having sex with the same women as his friends on the same night was “normal”.
Party animal
Chester Crown Court heard Mendy, who was remanded into custody for four months after his arrest for rape and sexual assault charges, would go clubbing up to three times a week before hosting after parties at his mansion.
The French International is accused of raping and sexually assaulting a total of six different women on five different occasions at his home in rural Cheshire between October 2018 and August last year. He denies seven counts of rape, one count of sexual assault and one count of attempted rape.
“At the time I was not thinking I can hurt their feelings or they can be upset. If they wanted to have sex and I wanted to – everything was fine and I carry on with my partying.”
He was asked by his barrister Eleanor Laws KC how often he would ask women for sex.
Mendy said: “Most of the time it was them. Most of the time it was them coming to me. Sometimes I would go to them.”
He was also asked how easy it was for him to pick up women, to which he replied: “Honestly, so easy. I started to receive more texts on my Instagram, on social media. I was not used to it before. Then the way I would talk to women was more direct. And the way women were coming to me like I never had that before. At the beginning [I didn’t know why], but it’s because of the status, access to a lot of things.”
10 times worse in the UK
He said this became “ten times worse” in the UK, adding: “Manchester City is one of the best teams in Europe so social media – to be out and I know I’m not Brad Pitt. The way they come to me is not because of my looks, it’s because of football.”
Ms Laws asked: “Did you enjoy it anyway?”
Mendy replied: “Yeah, I would not say it was bad.”
He told jurors he had time to think about his lifestyle while on remand and regrets continuing to have house parties even after being questioned by police after complaints by women about his alleged behaviour. “I did nothing wrong, I was just like carry on,” he said.
He told jurors his father died in March 2020 explaining: “When I was in prison I realised a lot of things. Inside I had some pain. When I was feeling happy was when I was drinking and partying. All my life I never had the time to really think about what I was doing. When I went there I was alone.
Disrespectful
“You sit down all day and the only thing you can do is think. [I was thinking about] the way I was sleeping with different women and the way I was going out. The way I would forget about my football because sometimes I was upset. But now I can see, for example, talking to my friend about if I can go sleep with the same woman, this is disrespectful.”
He told jurors he was earning £4 a week in prison which taught him the “value of money” adding: “The life I had before everything I wanted I would just buy it. I was sad to go there, but at the same time I learned a lot of things about life and the way I was. To meet some people I don’t know and to bring them to my house – it’s some stuff I will not do.”
