Man City’s Benjamin Mendy this week opens up to those in attendance for his court trial on what life is like in prison and behind bars.
The footballer, who signed a six-year contract worth £28million at Manchester City in 2017, said he learned the value of money while earning £4 a day in prison.
Mendy, 28, who had denied seven counts of rape against four women, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault, is currently on trial at Chester Crown Court having been remanded in custody.
Appearing in court on Monday (November 7), Mendy told the jury that his time in prison was “the first time in my life I was working on something else than football”.
🎙️ Benjamin Mendy: “In prison you only do one thing: Think. I had £4 a day, I spent it in the canteen. In my life before, I could have anything I wanted. I learned the value of money. I was sad in prison but I learned a lot of things.” pic.twitter.com/KTs5KcjkOB
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) November 8, 2022
“I was earning like £4 every day, to spend it in the canteen to buy some food. It is the first time I was really careful.
“The life I had before, everything I wanted to have, I just buy it. So it teached [sic] me the value of money.”
Speaking of his time in prison, he added: “At the same time, I was sad, upset to go in there, but the same time I learned a lot of things about life.”
Mendy was also heard in court saying to those watching on and listening to what he had to say, add that he now prefers to be on his own.
Mendy told the court that he first met Woman One while having some treatment for an injury in Barcelona.
During a night out in Manchester a good while later, Mendy said he “jokingly” told the female “I will kidnap you” while dancing. Mendy added that they had been “flirting” and giving off “some banter.”
That night the woman stayed with a friend of Mendy’s in a different bedroom at his home.
The following morning, he walked into a bathroom while she was showering and complimented her, saying “I told her we can have what we wanted” which was a “suggestion to have sex.”
Mendy adds he asked the woman if they could have sex, but she told him “no” because of his friend. Mendy said that he had asked his friend for permission.
The woman then wanted to leave. Mendy said he organised for his chauffeur to take her to a train station in the area nearby.
Mendy also told the jury that he regretted breaking lockdown rules during the Covid pandemic.
“It was wrong to have done that, I regret it and I’d like to say that in front of everyone,” he added. “I feel so embarrassed. It was not the right thing to do.”
Gary Cotterill provides an update from the trial of Benjamin Mendy.
Warning: This video contains descriptions of distressing incidents. pic.twitter.com/ZIECB7Pwml
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 8, 2022
The Premier League player, who denies the charges against him, said that it was “honestly, so easy” for him to meet women, adding that it was “normal” for him to sleep with multiple women on the same night.
Mendy said he began to receive attention from women when he was 18 and playing for Marseille.
When questioned by Eleanor Laws KC, defending, if he realised why, he said: “At the beginning, no, but after, yes. Because of status.”
When he joined Man City in 2017, he said, the attention became “10 times more”.
The France international said: “The way they came to me, it’s not because of my look, it’s because of football.”
Asked about his attitude to having sex with women he did not know well, he said: “At the time I was not thinking like how they were feeling or they can be upset because, for me, if they wanted to have sex and I wanted to, everything was fine and I would carry on my partying.”
He added he was enjoying “having sex with a lot of women,” but if a woman said “no” he would “accept it and stop”.
Mendy said he “didn’t worry” about using contraception although he “knew the risks”.
When asked why he carried on having parties with women he didn’t know after his initial arrest, Mendy said: “I did nothing wrong so I was just like, carry on.”
Ms Laws said: “Is that something you regret now?”
Mendy replied: “Yeah.”
He said: “When I was in prison it made me realise a lot of things. The partying I was doing, inside I had some pain.”
He told the court he had been injured a number of times while at City.
Also on trial is Mendy’s friend Louis Saha Matturie, 41, who allegedly tried to help find young women for Mendy. Saha Matturie denies six counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault.
Previously, Mendy was cleared of the rape of a 19-year-old woman, which was alleged to have occurred at his home in Prestbury.
Saha Matturie was also found not guilty of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault against the same woman.
Judge Stephen Everett told the jury to clear the two defendants of those counts by returning formal not guilty verdicts, after the prosecution offered no further evidence.
Benjamin Mendy was reportedly shocked after expecting a luxurious stay in prison after confusing HMP Altcourse’s VP wing for a ‘VIP’ wing.
He was transferred to one of Britain’s toughest prisons in the wake of concerns for his safety, it has been claimed.
He spent the 2021 Christmas period locked up in top-security Strangeways prison.
Mendy was taken from Liverpool’s category-B HMP Altcourse to his new Manchester-based jail on the 23rd of December, along with co-defendant 40-year-old Louis Saha Matturie.
One source told The Sun before he left prison on bail in January: “Both Mendy and Matturie were moved because their case is so high profile.
“That can lead to safety and prisoner management issues and it was felt Category A conditions might be better equipped to deal with any potential issues.
“The Prison Service has a responsibility to manage prisoners in the safest way possible.”
A source familiar with the prison explained how football tribalism could play a part in his experience: “He won’t know what’s hit him coming from Altcourse, which is a privately run prison.
“It’s one of the toughest jails in the country. His other problem will be the amount of Man United fans in there.
“They will be screaming his name for weeks so he won’t be getting much sleep, especially as he’s charged with sex offences.
“There are a lot of Blues’ fans there as well, but even the most avid will struggle to protect an alleged sex offender.”
Mendy signed for Man City from Monaco for a fee around £52million back in July of 2017, going on to win three Premier League titles having made 10 appearances for the France national side.
A jury of eight men and four women were sworn in for the trial in early August, which is expected to last for more than three months. None of the women involved, as sexual assault complainants, can legally be identified. The trial continues.
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