Rape case: Another woman testifies against Mendy

Both men deny all charges.

A jury at Chester Crown Court watched a recorded interview with the woman, who is the first of seven women who have made allegations against Mendy to give evidence in his trial.

In the interview, played to the court on Wednesday, the woman told a police officer how Mendy, wearing just his boxer shorts, walked into an en-suite bathroom as she was naked in the shower at his house.

She had stayed the night with one of his friends following a night out in October 2018.

She said: “So he walked in and, out of shock, I said: ‘You need to leave.’

“I saw him hold himself in his private area.”

The woman said she managed to wrap a towel around herself and grab some underwear but Mendy snatched it off her.

She said: “He just did not want me to have clothes.

“He kept obstructing me.

“I kept pushing him away, he kept grabbing me back.

“He sat on the bed and put me on top of him.”

She described how she was desperately trying to cling on to her towel as Mendy took off his boxer shorts and pulled her towards him.

She said: “I just kept trying to wriggle out.

“He got very close but I pushed him away as much as I could.”

The woman told the officer she kept thinking: “Why is this happening?

“Shall I scream?

“There’s no point as he’s in his own territory.”

The woman explained how she had met Mendy a year before, in a club in Barcelona, but she had been much more interested in his friend, who was part of his “entourage” and who invited her to the north-west in October 2018.

She said on October 24 2018, she travelled up to Manchester to see Mendy’s friend at the footballer’s house in Cheshire.

After arriving they went out to a restaurant in Manchester and were joined by two Brazilian girls and they all enjoyed some drinking games.

Then they went to a club and champagne was ordered before going on to a second nightclub where she was with Mendy’s friend and the footballer approached her.

She said: “At one point he came up to me and said: ‘When he’s not looking, I’m going to kidnap you.’

“I thought he was joking.”