Russell Brand‘s rape and sexual assault trial is in its second week at London’s Southwark Crown Court.
As a reminder, the ex-presenter, actor and comedian is accused of three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one allegation of indecent assault, with six women alleging crimes dating from 1999 to 2009. He denies all of the claims, which were presented in depth by lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones last week.
The first complainant gave evidence on Thursday, telling the court about her and Brand’s 1999 encounter in a Bournemouth hotel room: “He did rape me, he did push me on the bed. … He did pull my clothes off.” She said the experience left her feeling “dirty” and in fear that she was pregnant. Brand maintains the interaction was consensual.
On Monday, another complainant’s police interview played as Brand watched on and his wife, Laura Gallacher, sat in the public gallery. The accuser went into detail about meeting Brand at a bar in Soho, London, in 2004. He went on to star in the likes of St. Trinian’s and Forgetting Sarah Marshall but was best known at this time for presenting Big Brother‘s spinoff show.
According to Sky News, the complainant said Brand grabbed at her breasts after talking “for a minute max.” She said Brand took her arm and dragged her into the toilets close to where they were standing. Here, the court was shown a floor plan of the bar.
She said Brand stood on the toilet seat. “It happened so fast,” said the complainant in the police interview. “He pulled me over and put his penis in my mouth.”
The woman explained that she tried to resist but Brand said, “‘Don’t be a spoilsport,’ or something along those lines.” She became emotional as she spoke, according to Sky, imagining others asking her: “‘Why didn’t you bite him?’ I just froze. I didn’t know what to do.” She alleged Brand then “ejaculated into my mouth.”
The accuser recalled banging on the locked toilet door to escape and says a man outside may have shouted to ask if everything was okay. Brand acted as if “nothing had happened” and said to her: “I guess we should swap numbers now,” according to the woman. She says she was steered into a car with Brand, still in “disbelief and shock.” While in the car, she realized Brand had his penis out, the complainant claimed. She alleges he said, “Come on and suck it.” She says she told him no, and that Brand “took no for an answer.”
On what was going through her mind at the time of the alleged oral rape, the accuser reportedly said: “If I do this maybe he won’t try to rape me further. … He won’t try to invade my body. … I felt it was the lesser of two evils.” She described it as a “survival thing,” and remembered thinking: “Just do what he wants and get out of here, and then it’s done. … I closed my eyes and tried to not be there.”
She didn’t come forward to the police because, said the woman, she “felt shame that someone could do that to me.” It was only in 2023, after seeing reports in the press around other allegations against Brand, that she decided to come forward. Sky News added that the police interview showed the officer probing the woman on what she was wearing during the attack. She told them: “It wouldn’t have been boobs hanging out. I don’t dress like that.”
The complainant says she was “absolutely appalled” when her employer, MTV, later hired him to be a presenter. “Any time he was in the building, I just refused to go over or to any parties. If I knew where he was, I would just avoid,” she said. “I did see him in the distance a couple of times. He probably wouldn’t even recognize me. I’m just a face.”
The woman was then cross-examined by Brand’s defense lawyer, Ian Winter, who asked her on Monday: “Can you explain why you didn’t tell a single human being until you rang the police in September 2023?” She maintains she did tell people that Brand had grabbed her breasts while standing at the bar. Winter responded: “I suggest you didn’t tell anyone.” The woman answers: “I don’t agree with your summation.”
Sky says the defense then asked: “Why didn’t you slap his face?” She said: “I was completely shocked someone I’d be talking to for around 30 seconds would do that to me.” Winter suggested it would have been “perfectly easy” for her to “struggle” or “kick off” about the interaction. She disagreed, telling the courtroom that the bar had “cleared out” a little. “I was dragged [into the toilet] against my will,” she added.
Brand has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The trial could last up to six weeks.