Footballer’s ‘fixer’ cleared of all sex assault charges

A friend and “fixer” for ex-Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has been cleared of sexual offences against young women after a retrial.

Louis Saha Matturie, 42, who was part of the former Premier League star’s entourage, had been accused of “taking advantage” of three young women.

Both men had been on trial together accused of sexual offences but were found not guilty of most charges in January after a six-month trial.

But retrials were ordered on the outstanding charges the jury could not agree verdicts on.

Mr Mendy, 29, now playing for French Ligue 1 club Lorient, was cleared of all charges after his retrial in July.

Mr Matturie was found not guilty by the jury of three counts of rape relating to two teenagers at the first trial.

At his retrial, which began last month, he was accused of two counts of rape and two of sexual assault, relating to three different women, aged 19, 17 and 22.

Last week he was found not guilty of all but one of the charges following a three-week trial at Chester Crown Court.

On Thursday Benjamin Aina KC, prosecuting, said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had decided not to pursue a third prosecution after the jury failed to reach a verdict on the one outstanding count of sexual assault following the retrial.

Judge Steven Everett at Chester Crown Court recorded a not guilty verdict to the outstanding count. He also granted a personal costs order for Mr Matturie’s travel costs to court to be reimbursed following a request by his lawyer, Lisa Wilding KC. Mr Matturie was not in court for the brief hearing.

The 19-year-old woman alleged that she had been to a party in March 2021 and had blacked out after drinking alcohol and inhaling nitrous oxide balloons and woke up on a mattress in Mr Matturie’s bedroom at his flat in Salford with the defendant raping her.

Around a month later the 17-year-old claimed she too had been at Mr Matturie’s flat and woke up to him sexually assaulting and raping her.

In July 2021 the third woman, then aged 22, said she had been to a party at Mr Mendy’s £4.5 million mansion The Spinney, in Mottram-St-Andrew, Cheshire.

She alleged that while there Mr Matturie insisted she come with him to drive to a local shop to buy alcohol and on the way back he tried to kiss her and sexually assaulted her in the car.

Both Mr Matturie and Mr Mendy maintained throughout their trials that any sexual activity that had taken place with women was always consensual.

Mr Mendy was initially cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, relating to four young women or teenagers at his trial.

Jurors failed to reach verdicts on two charges.

During Mr Mendy’s retrial in July on the outstanding charges he was cleared of raping a young woman and trying to rape another.