Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy has arrived at court where he is accused of seven rapes and one sexual assault.
The French defender wore a dark suit, coat and face covering as he got out a Mercedes V-Class for a pre-trial hearing.
The 27-year-old ducked past reporters and photographers as he was escorted into Chester Crown Court.
Mendy is accused of eight offences against five women, including seven counts of rape relating to four women and the sexual assault of another alleged victim.
He allegedly raped a woman while he was on police bail in August, before entering custody in September for 134 days.
Last month he was pictured wearing an electronic ankle tag after being released from prison on bail.
He was ordered to wear the device and report to a police station daily as part of his bail conditions.
He was released from Strangeways in Manchester in January after he made bail at a private hearing at Chester Crown Court, with press excluded from the courtroom.
Mendy, who has been ordered to spend six months under house arrest at his £4.8 million property in Prestbury, Cheshire, had been due to go on trial last month.
But it was push back to June at the earliest.
The footballer, who signed for Manchester City for £52million on £90,000-a-week contract, had been held at HMP Altcourse before being transferred Strangeways.
The France international was granted bail on January 7 after an application by his defence team at Chester Crown Court.
Judge Patrick Thompson made the decision after declining a prosecution request to extend his custody time limit.
Mendy was told will be the subject of ‘stringent’ conditions while on bail.
The allegations against him include three counts of rape, alleged to have happened on 11 October 2020, a sexual assault on 2 January 2021, one count of rape on 24 July 2021 and two counts of rape on 23 August 2021.
In December, Mendy was charged with a further count of rape in July, last year.
Co-defendant Louis Saha Matturie, 40, of Edwin Court, Eccles, was already charged with six counts of rape and one sexual assault.
The charges relate to four complainants over the age of 16 and are alleged to have taken place between March 2021 and August 2021.
Ian Unsworth QC, prosecuting, said fresh charges of rape and sexual assault have been authorised and Matturie would appear in court on those matters in due course.
The two new charges relate to an existing complainant.
Mendy and Matturie were due to face trial later this month but the date has provisionally been rescheduled to June 27.
Both men will next appear in court on January 24. Mendy joined Manchester City from Monaco in 2017 for a reported £52million
City suspended the left-back in August pending an investigation.
The club said in a statement at the time: ‘The matter is subject to a legal process and the club is therefore unable to make further comment until that process is complete.’
