tA first testimony that set the tone for a trial that promises to be long and trying for the alleged victims of Benjamin Mendy.

This Wednesday, in the court of Chester in England, began the hearing of the 13 plaintiffs who accuse the French world champion of eight rapes, a sexual assault and an attempted rape.

"When he's not looking, I'll kidnap you"

The first young woman to be heard was from a distance, a device authorized in Great Britain to allow alleged victims not to appear physically in front of their attacker.

She recounted at length an evening in October 2018, when, a year after a first innocuous meeting through a friend of the player, she found herself at the restaurant with the two men and other guests.

Fairly “drunk” after several games of alcohol, the young woman explained that Mendy would then have approached him to say to him: “When he will not look, I will kidnap you.

A warning she then considered a joke.

She then recounts having gone to the home of Benjamin Mendy with his friend and having fallen asleep in a state of intoxication.

And it was when he woke up that things got out of hand, according to his story.

The young woman assures that the former OM player would have entered the bathroom while she was taking a shower, and that he would not have moved despite her repeated requests for him to leave the room.

"I put on a towel and wanted to take my underwear to protect myself, but he kept stopping me."

" You are scared ?

You don't have to be afraid.

I'm not going to do anything to you"

"He sat up on the bed and put me on top of him," she added, as she struggled to keep her towel around her.

The complainant accuses the French of having then taken off his underpants and pulled out his penis in her direction, while she "kept pushing him away" and he continued to "catch" her.

Mendy reportedly replied at that time: “Are you scared?

You don't have to be afraid.

I'm not going to do anything to you.

»

Asked about the fact that she did not shout for help when the house was occupied by other people, the young woman explained that she "did not understand what was happening" and felt confused.

She will finally manage to order a VTC driver on her own and leave the footballer's mansion, adding that she no longer remembers exactly how the incident ended.

Remained silent all day, Mendy attended like the jurors to the recording of the cross-examination conducted by his lawyers.

On Thursday, the latter will be conducted live from the court of hearing, since one of the many accusers of the ex-Le Havre will come to testify in court.

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