British actor and comedian Russell Brand faces three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault involving six women, following the start of his trial at Southwark Crown Court in London on Wednesday. He denies all the charges, which relate to alleged offences between 1999 and 2009.
According to the BBC, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC described Brand as a “ruthless” sexual predator as she opened the prosecution’s case. She told jurors that the six women did not know one another and came forward independently. The allegations, she said, spanned different circumstances and stages of Brand’s career.
Karmy-Jones said Brand’s desire for sexual contact was “indiscriminate and voracious”. She described him as charming, funny and likeable when he wanted something, but also demanding and entitled, with an expectation that others should meet his desires.
The prosecutor told the court that Brand sometimes appeared indifferent after the alleged incidents. At times, she said, he left promptly or made excuses to leave; on other occasions, he carried on as though nothing had happened.
Brand’s wife, Laura, accompanied him to court on Wednesday.
The first complainant told the court that she met Brand at a fringe event during the Labour Party conference in 1999, before he became famous. The prosecution alleges that he later raped her. When police questioned him about the allegation, Brand reportedly said that if it happened, he did not remember it. He also said he could not recall the woman’s name and had never engaged in non-consensual activity.
The second complainant worked for MTV when she says Brand indecently assaulted her. She told the court that he asked where the toilets were and she offered to show him. Once they reached the toilets, the prosecution alleges, Brand asked her to come inside and grabbed her forearm. She struggled and pulled away as he repeatedly urged her to enter, appearing desperate and wild-eyed, according to her account.
The third complainant alleges that Brand orally raped her in a toilet after they met at a party in 2004. The prosecution said he grabbed and squeezed her breasts with both hands during a conversation shortly after they met. She recalled a “big, weird grin” on his face before he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the toilets.
The same woman also alleged that Brand exposed himself while they were travelling to another venue. According to the prosecution, he urged her to perform a sexual act. She refused, and he laughed but appeared to accept her answer.
The fourth complainant says Brand confronted her at Capital Radio in 2004 or 2005. She alleges that he pushed her against a wall, kissed her “sloppily and aggressively” and grabbed her breasts, sides and buttocks. She managed to push him away. The prosecutor said Brand then sniggered as though the encounter were a joke.
The fifth complainant says she met Brand when he performed at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in 2009. The prosecution said their encounter initially involved consensual activity, but alleges that he later raped her anally. The woman reportedly spent months and years blaming herself and became anxious and unwell.
Jurors also heard about text messages the pair exchanged after seeing each other at an event the following summer. Brand allegedly wrote, “I wanna push you further.” The woman replied, “I think you pushed me far enough – you treated me like an animal.” He allegedly responded, “I’m sorry.”
The sixth complainant alleges that Brand demanded a massage while she was on a work assignment in 2009. The prosecution said he then fell to his knees and placed his head directly in her groin area.
After outlining the final two women’s accounts, Karmy-Jones said Brand told police in 2023 that he had never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity. She said he claimed the accounts had been reinvented or imagined following a documentary about allegations against him and subsequent press coverage.
Former flatmate gives evidence
Brand’s former flatmate, Mark Pinheiro, became the first witness to testify on Wednesday afternoon. Pinheiro told jurors that Brand had spoken to him about an encounter with a woman during the 1999 Labour Party conference and suggested he might have gone “a bit too far”.
“He said that things got a little bit heated and a little bit out of hand, and he thinks that maybe he did go a little bit too far,” Pinheiro said.
Under cross-examination, he was challenged about whether he remembered the comment accurately. He maintained that Brand had said either that things had gone too far or that he might have taken them too far.
The trial is continuing and is expected to last six weeks.
Brand rose to fame as a stand-up comedian before becoming a household name through television programmes such as Big Brother’s Big Mouth and radio shows on BBC Radio 2 and 6 Music. He later built a Hollywood career, appearing in films including Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.
In recent years, Brand has focused on podcasting. He now lives in Florida, US.
