A FORMER Man Utd child prodigy raped a woman with his friend after a night out, a court was told today.
John Cofie, 30, and friend Nathan Stuart allegedly assaulted the woman when she was too drunk to consent.
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John Cofie is accused of raping a woman with a friend. Credits: PA: Empics Sport
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Sean McGinty, Paul Pogba, Sam Johnstone, Cofie and Jesse Lingard celebrate winning the FA Youth Cup for Man Utd 2011 Credit: Getty – Contributor
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard how she met the couple on a night out in Altrincham in April 2019.
She and a friend visited several bars with Cofie and Stuart before her friend decided to go home, it was said.
Jurors were told the alleged victim was then seen “hanging from” Cofie’s arm and “slurring his words”.
She ended up in Stuart’s home where the couple allegedly raped her.
The woman was picked up by her parents around 3 a.m. after they reported her missing because she did not return home.
She was said to be “incoherent” and “mentally unawakened” at the time.
The court heard that she had no recollection of the event and was later told by Stuart that she had sex with him and Cofie.
She claims she may have been attacked because she felt “similar” to a previous experience as a teenager.
Forget it and move on.
The football player’s friend of the alleged victim
The “shaken” woman was taken to hospital after she started “shaking and hyperventilating” and was told the amount she had drunk could not explain her memory loss, nausea, vomiting and headache.
When she told Stuart how bad she was feeling, he allegedly told her: “Well, you don’t think we’ve been screwing you do you?”
But when she questioned him further, he said they had sex and that Cofie “was there too”.
The woman then told Stuart she wanted to check with the police, to which he warned her: “Forget it and move on”.
After Cofie and Stuart were arrested, they claimed she had consented to sexual activity.
Jurors heard officers searched their phones and discovered Stuart had texted his footballer friend advising him to “say nothing”.
Stuart, from Northwich, Cheshire, denies two counts of rape while Cofie, from Sale, Greater Manchester, denies three counts of rape.
Cofie became the youngest £1million footballer when he signed for Man Utd from Burnley in 2007 aged just 14.
He played alongside Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, but left the club in 2013 when he failed to break into the senior team.
Cofie, born in Ghana, then had spells at Barnsley, Crawley Town and Wrexham.
He also played on loan at clubs including Sheffield United and Belgium’s Antwerp.
After hanging up his football boots at the age of 27, he worked at a school as a mentor to children for the football program.
The trial continues.
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Cofie, pictured at a previous court hearing, denies rape Credit: CHRIS NEILL
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Cofie was in 13 different clubs in his career
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