Benjamin Mendy is currently on trial in England for rape and sexual assault. Thursday, August 25, the testimony of the fourth complainant was called into question by the footballer’s lawyer, who questioned her about her Google searches the day before her complaint.
The more the days pass, the more the stories of the complainants freeze the blood. In Chester, not far from Liverpool in England, Benjamin Mendy confronts his victims alleged in court. The former Manchester City and France footballer, who has not touched a ball since his incarceration just a year ago, is accused of eight rapes, one attempted rape and one sexual assault. The first complainant notably revealed the existence of a room in the defender’s house, locked from the inside and in which he would have trapped his victims before raping them. Another gave chilling testimony, recounting how he allegedly abused her three times: “My body was so tense, I was in a lot of pain (…) I said no many times that’s what really makes me angry“, she told the jurors. Another explained that she lied about not taking the pill to discourage her attacker, to no avail.
“How much is Benjamin Mendy worth?“
But yesterday, a new testimony was this time completely questioned by Eleanor Laws, the lawyer of the 2018 world champion. During the cross-examination, the alleged victim was questioned on astonishing Google searches found in his history , on the eve of filing a complaint. “How much is Benjamin Mendy worth?“she would have typed on the search engine in January 2022, therefore seeking to find out about the market value and probably the income of the footballer.The next day you started writing on your phone an account of what happened with Mr. Mendy” noted the lawyer then. “I do not remember“was satisfied to answer the young woman called to the bar.
Eleanor Laws also insisted on the attitude of the latter after her alleged attack, asking her if she appeared well on the images of an evening in a nightclub in her company, before asking her if she had remained on good terms with her entourage : “They acted normal with me and I acted normal with them. I never put myself in such a situation again. Every time they asked me to pass, I didn’t go“replied the young woman. It is up to the courts to decide whether this testimony can hold following the exposure of these elements, while Benjamin Mendy still risks life imprisonment at the end of this trial. The footballer is still presumed innocent awaiting the verdict.