Footballer Benjamin Mendy appears in court over new rape allegations

Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy has appeared in court charged with two more counts of rape.

Mendy, 27, now faces a total of six allegations of rape and one of sexual assault after initially being charged with five offences in August.

The French international has been in custody since August after a number of bail applications were refused by judges.

He appeared by video-link at Manchester Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday afternoon charged with two further counts of rape.

During the five-minute hearing, which was delayed due to technical issues, Mendy, who appeared wearing a cream-coloured sweatshirt, spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

The court clerk told the hearing that Mendy was charged with two counts of rape, which are alleged to have taken place in Macclesfield in July and August this year.

The footballer was initially charged on August 26 with three counts of rape relating to an alleged incident in October 2020, one count of raping a woman in August this year and the sexual assault of a woman in early January 2021.

Those alleged offences relate to four women over the age of 16 and are alleged to have taken place between October 2020 and August 2021 at his home address on Withinlee Road, in Prestbury, Cheshire.

Mendy appeared alongside his co-accused, Louis Saha Matturie, 40, who has also been charged with two additional counts of rape and one of sexual assault.

The court heard that Matturie, of Eccles, Greater Manchester, is accused of sexually touching a woman in Sheffield in 2016, raping a woman in March this year and another count of rape in Macclesfield in July.

He now faces six counts of rape in total and one of sexual assault.

District Judge Margaret McCormack told the defendants: “The charges that you face will be sent to Chester Crown Court and you will appear there tomorrow morning and that’s to tie in with existing matters.”

No application for bail was made at Wednesday’s hearing. Both men are due to go on trial on January 24, 2022.

Mendy has played for Manchester City since 2017, when he joined from Monaco for a reported £52m.

He was suspended by the club after being charged by police, pending an investigation.