Russell Brand’s rape and sexual assault trial officially began in London on Wednesday, where the court heard him characterised as a “ruthless” predator who laughed at women when they refused to agree to his sexual demands.
The presenter and actor, 51, is accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault, relating to allegations made by six women. Brand denies all the allegations.
Southwark Crown Court heard disturbing details about the alleged incidents, which are said to have occurred between 1999 and 2009, when the star was at the height of his fame.
Opening the case against him, Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court that Brand forced women into sexual acts in an “obsessive” campaign to sleep with 5,000 women.
Karmy-Jones said Brand was a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” sexual predator.
Here are five key takeaways from the start of the trial, which is expected to last six weeks.
‘Brand sniggered after kissing and groping woman’
Brand “sniggered” after kissing and groping a woman, as members of his entourage looked on and did nothing to help her, the court heard.
The woman who met Brand at a radio station in the mid-2000s said he “grabbed her by the face with both hands” before he “pushed her up against a wall, where he kissed her sloppily and aggressively”, Karmy-Jones told the court.
She added: “She remembers it being very wet. During this assault, he also grabbed her body, at her breasts, sides and buttocks aggressively.
“She tried to push him off, but he was too strong and he continued to kiss her on her face, and down her neck and onto her chest area, grabbing her bum, moving his mouth towards her cleavage, grabbing her breast so hard that it was painful.”
The woman managed to push him away after members of Brand’s entourage failed to help her despite her looking at them in the hope they would intervene, Karmy-Jones claimed.
‘Brand groped woman and tried to pull her into toilet’
Another alleged victim said Brand “lunged” at her and grabbed her breasts before grinning, when they were talking about reality TV show Big Brother in a bar in London’s Soho district in July 2004.
Karmy-Jones claimed Brand then grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her into the toilets where he orally raped her – despite her saying “I don’t want to do this”.
She said: “He just said: ‘Oh come on don’t be a spoilsport, you want to’ or something along those lines.”
The woman said she “froze and didn’t know what to do” during the incident, and when released by Brand, he just left after she started banging on the door.
‘He stripped half-naked and performed silly walks before rape’
Brand is accused of raping a woman he had met after she watched him perform a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth.
Karmy-Jones told jurors the woman initially thought Brand was gay, and invited him to her hotel room to continue their conversation.
It is claimed that Brand then stripped half-naked and performed silly walks like an ostrich and Basil Fawlty, Karmy-Jones told the court. Basil Fawlty is the main character of the hit 1970s British sitcom Fawlty Towers.
Later in the hotel room, the woman says Brand “pushed her onto the bed” and raped her.
Afterwards, she says Brand “behaved as if nothing had happened” and suggested that his mother would like to meet her.
‘Brand apologised for treating woman he raped like an animal’
Brand had sex with a woman without consent after meeting her when she was in the audience at a Hammersmith Apollo show in 2009, it is alleged.
Prosecutors say she had a threesome with Brand backstage, then had consensual sex with the star at his home in Hampstead, north London.
She claimed Brand then raped her at his home, looked “horrified” afterwards, and then allegedly forced her to “clean up the mess”.
Karmy-Jones said Brand texted the woman the following year after seeing each other in a chance encounter in Scotland.
She said she messaged Brand: “Why are you even messaging me?”, and he replied: “Because you’re dirty, and I wanna push you further.”
The court heard she claims she replied: “I think you pushed me far enough – you treated me like an animal”, and she says Brand replied: “I’m sorry.”
‘Woman assaulted after being persuaded to give Brand a massage’
The final alleged victim, a Channel 4 worker, accuses Brand of sexual assault as he was filming for a project in 2009.
Karmy-Jones told the court that after filming Brand became “angry, fed up, and petulant”, adding the woman was informed by members of his entourage he was “unhappy” and the situation would not improve unless she gave him a massage.
The prosecutor said: “She thought they must be joking but then realised they meant it. She said no, and they said she had to.”
It is said Brand walked up to a chair the woman was sitting on and placed his head directly into her groin area, before telling her, “come on then, do it”.
The alleged victim says she “froze” as Brand assaulted her.
The trial continues.