Russell Brand was described as ruthless and a sexual predator by the prosecution at the start of his trial for rape and sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court in London. You can follow the trial day by day on podcast Fame Under Fire: Russell Brand on Trial – available on Sounds, YouTube, iPlayer, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The 51-year-old actor and comedian faces three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault spanning a ten-year period between 1999 and 2009. He denies the charges. Made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009, the allegations. Warning – this report contains graphic content.
Riel Karmy-Jones KC, representing the prosecution, told the jury that the six female complainants did not know each other, had never met each other, and came forward independently.
Brand was accompanied to court by his wife Laura as legal proceedings commenced on Wednesday.
Prosecution Arguments and Defendant Demeanor
- Circumstances: The barrister stated that the circumstances of the offending were as wide and as varied as the defendant’s career.
- Deterrence: She told the court that regardless of who the women were and what they said or did, Brand was not deterred.
- Desire: The prosecutor described his desire for some form of sexual contact as indiscriminate and voracious.
- Behavior: Jurors were told Brand would be nice, funny, charming, and likeable when he wanted something in return, but also demanding, entitled, and childlike in his expectations.
- Aftermath: The prosecution stated that Brand would appear indifferent, normal, and untroubled after the encounters, sometimes leaving promptly or acting as though nothing wrong had happened.
Details of Alleged Offences Presented to Jury
The first complainant stated she met Brand before he was famous in 1999 after attending a fringe event at the Labour Party conference. Prosecutors alleged he later raped her. When questioned by police, Brand said that if the incident happened he did not remember it, adding that he did not recall her name and had never engaged in non-consensual activity. According to the jury then heard how the fifth complainant, She met Brand when he was performing at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in 2009. Becoming anxious and unwell, the jury heard how the woman “spent months and years blaming herself”.
A witness, Pinheiro, told jurors that Brand had remarked in 1999 that things got a little bit out of hand and that he may have gone a bit too far with a woman at the conference. Under cross-examination, Pinheiro maintained he was sure Brand made those comments.
The second complainant, who worked for MTV at the time, alleged Brand asked her for directions to the toilets before grabbing her forearm and asking her to come inside while displaying a desperate expression. She resisted by pulling back. He said, ‘Come on, come on, suck it’ â to which she just said, ‘No no’,” the prosecution added. “He simply laughed but appeared to accept her refusal. Like it was a joke”, the prosecutor said, she was able to push him away and he “just sniggered.
The third complainant alleged Brand orally raped her in a toilet after meeting her at a party in 2004. She stated he grabbed and squeezed her breasts within a minute of meeting her, pulled her toward the toilets with a weird grin on his face, and later exposed himself while they were driving to another venue. According to the fourth complainant, Brand pushed her up against a wall at Capital Radio in 2004 or 2005 and kissed her “sloppily and aggressively”, and “grabbed her body, at her breasts, sides and buttocks, aggressively”.
