Mobile phone messages about young women sent between ex-Premier League footballer Benjamin Mendy and his “fixer” spoke of women as “bitches”, it can be revealed for the first time.
The messages, between former Manchester City defender Mr Mendy and his friend, Louis Saha Matturie, included one saying: “We are boss, they are bitches.”
Mr Mendy was found not guilty of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, relating to four women, after a six-month trial at Chester Crown Court in February.
Jurors could not reach verdicts on one count of rape and one of attempted rape, relating to two women, but he was also found not guilty after a retrial in June.
Neither of the juries at his trial or retrial were shown the messages as the judge ruled them inadmissible.
The messages could not be reported until Thursday when Mr Matturie was cleared of all charges in his retrial.
The messages are Mr Mendy effectively saying, ‘I have had sex with lots of women, I want sex with lots more and if they don’t want to have sex with me, they are on the road— Judge Steven Everett
At Mr Mendy’s first trial prosecutors claimed the messages revealed the true picture of the men’s “misogynistic” and “hateful” attitude to women.
Another message read: “Bro’ if no one f***, the girls they go, because they can’t sleep here, no space.”
A third said: “I don’t want any friends coming in (the cinema room). I’m going to f*** the tall one. Get the Spanish girl LOL.”
The social media and text messages were recovered during the police investigation after Mr Mendy and Mr Matturie’s phones were seized by detectives and analysed.
During legal argument in the absence of the jury, Timothy Cray KC, prosecuting Mr Mendy in his first trial, wanted the jury to see the messages, applying for them to be included in the evidence.
Mr Cray argued the messages showed “entrenched” and “reckless” attitudes to women.
They showed, he said, where the line into sexual assault and rape was crossed, the men sharing an assumption that if women had come to a party, then they were available for sex.
But Eleanor Laws KC, defending Mr Mendy, opposed the jury seeing the messages.
She said many messages did not even involve any of the women involved in the case or show the defendants were reckless to women’s consent to sex.
She said of Mr Mendy: “He has a real appetite to have a lot of sex with a lot of women. Have sex with women who his friends have just had sex with.
“There’s not a single message that shows he did not care whether women were consenting.
“All of this would be highly prejudicial.”
Judge Steven Everett said all “right thinking” people would disapprove of the messages, which did the defendants “no credit”.
But he said: “A lot of the issues in this case are not whether they had entrenched views about sex but whether they had consent.
“Where is it you have an actual message where a jury could infer that Mr Mendy was saying, ‘They are going to do what I want, whether they like it or not’?
“The messages are Mr Mendy effectively saying, ‘I have had sex with lots of women, I want sex with lots more and if they don’t want to have sex with me, they are on the road.”
Judge Everett ruled the messages should not be shown to the jury.
Mr Matturie was found not guilty of three counts of rape relating to two teenagers at the first trial and went on retrial on charges jurors could not agree a verdict on.
At his retrial he was cleared of the outstanding charges of two counts of rape and one of sexual assault, relating to three different women, aged 19, 17 and 22. Jurors failed to reach a verdict on one count of sexual assault but Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) lawyers on Thursday decided not to pursue another trial, ending the case.
Mr Mendy maintained his innocence throughout and told the jury that while he was promiscuous he would never force himself on a woman or girl and any sexual activity was consensual.
The French international footballer is alleged to have later told one young woman, “It’s fine, I’ve had sex with 10,000 women”, the court heard.
Jurors heard the alleged offences happened often during parties at his £2.2 million home, The Spinney, in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire.
Mr Mendy, who joined Man City in 2017 from Monaco, in a £52 million world-record fee for a defender at the time, now plays for French top division club FC Lorient.
