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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Jamie Grierson and agencies

Jack Grealish was at Mendy party where two women allege rape, court told

Jack Grealish
Jack Grealish playing for Manchester City last month. Photograph: Lee Smith/Action Images/Reuters

The England footballer Jack Grealish was at a party at the house of his Manchester City teammate Benjamin Mendy where two young women were allegedly raped, Chester crown court has heard.

One of the accusers, who was 17 at the time, told the court on Friday that another woman, 23, who alleges she was raped by Mendy’s friend Louis Saha Matturie also claimed she had sex with Grealish on the same night.

Mendy, 28, and Matturie, 41, are on trial for multiple charges of rape and other sexual offences against a number of young women. Both deny all offences.

Grealish, who is in the 23-man matchday squad for England’s match against Italy on Friday, was named during a police interview given by the teenager that was played to the jury. She alleges she was raped twice by Mendy on the evening of a party at his house in Prestbury, Cheshire, in August last year.

In the interview, she alleged Mendy raped her twice at his home during the gathering, where Mendy’s friends and Grealish’s friends, from Birmingham, were also present.

The teenager said on 23 August last year she took a taxi with three other girls and one of Matturie’s friends, and passed around drink on the way to Mendy’s house, where the girls had their mobile phones taken away before going inside, the court was told.

She said: “There were already two girls on the couch. They were sat next to Jack. He was already on the couch.”

Matturie then led the 23-year-old woman away “hand in hand” to get more alcohol because, the witness told police, “Jack had been demanding vodka”. Matturie then allegedly raped the 23-year-old in the car they used to go to a shop at a local petrol station before returning to the house.

The 17-year-old told police: “I asked her what happened. I took her to the toilet. She’s absolutely distraught, in hysterics. She just told me she had fallen asleep in the car and woke up with the feeling of him pushing inside her.”

Later, in a lounge area, the teenager said Mendy began “checking her out” before leading her to an office with a secure lock. Inside the office, Mendy allegedly raped her twice.

Afterwards, the 17-year-old went to find the 23-year-old woman and found her in a lounge. The teenager told police: “She told me she had sex with Jack.

“I don’t know whether that was consensual or non-consensual. I don’t know what that was. But she was talking about it.”

The teenager said she was raped in a cinema room by Matturie after being raped by Mendy. She said she saw Grealish “passed out” in the house.

She said she was raped again by Matturie at a Manchester flat on the same day.

Mendy denies seven counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and one count of sexual assault against six young women. Matturie of Eccles, Salford, denies six counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault relating to seven young women.

Both men say if any sex did take place with women or girls it was consensual.

Grealish was also mentioned during the trial at the end of August, when he and another teammate, Kyle Walker, were named in a witness statement. The witness told police she had seen Grealish and Walker at one party, which was not one of the events relating to Mendy and Matturie’s trial.

The case continues.

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