Russell Brand grabbed breasts of alleged rape victim 30 seconds after meeting her, court hears

Russell Brand grabbed the breasts of a woman he is accused of raping 30 seconds after meeting her, a London court has heard.

The 51-year-old actor and comedian, who allegedly raped the woman after groping her at a London bar, is facing seven charges including rape and sexual assault against six different women between 1999 and 2009.

On the fourth day of his trial, the court heard that Brand had a “weird maniacal grin” on his face that was “like a clown” in the moments before the alleged rape in 2004.

Jurors were played a recording of a police interview with the unnamed woman, who was in her 20s and working at MTV at the time.

In the interview, she claimed she had been attending a party in a bar when Brand had grabbed her breasts in the middle of a conversation, before pulling her into a lavatory and orally raping her.

Under cross-examination, the complainant said she had been talking to Brand only briefly when the alleged incident began.

She said: “I was just completely shocked that someone who I was speaking to for 30 seconds would do that to me.”

In her police interview, she said: “I remember his big grin and it was like a clown.” 

She added: “From one minute it was a normal conversation, there wasn’t any sexual flirting or anything like that, it was a normal conversation about him being on Big Brother.

“He just moved toward me and grabbed both my boobs really quickly and then sort of let go and he then grabbed my arm and just pulled me.

“For him to blatantly do that in a public place with someone you’ve literally just met was a complete shock to me, I didn’t know how to process that.”

She said that it had happened late in the evening when the party was winding down. “I was drunk, not in terms of falling over, because I don’t get like that, But I definitely had at least seven drinks, something like that — six or seven drinks.

“First of all, [Brand] was holding on to my arm and then he was holding on to my head and neck area,” she continued. “I did definitely say: ‘What are you doing? I don’t want to do this’.”

She recalled that “every time I tried to move away, he was strong, it was forcing me back”, adding: “I didn’t feel like my life was in danger, I don’t know if that’s because he was a famous person.”

She said that Brand had been talking in a “laddie” kind of way. The alleged incident “happened so quickly, it felt like seconds”.

She said Brand unzipped his trousers and tried to force her into oral sex. She said she had pushed him away and said: “What are you doing? I don’t want to do this.”

She added: “He was like ‘come on, come on, don’t be a spoilsport’ or something along those lines. He just kept pushing my head down and wouldn’t let me go.

“I just thought if I do this maybe he won’t rape me further. It was a survival thing that kicked in. It was, ‘just do what he says and then you’re out of here’.”

She said that after she left the lavatory, she had been “in a daze” and Brand had suggested that they swap numbers. He had been “acting completely normal, like we just met in a club or something”, she added.

The woman said she had felt “numb” afterwards and had walked around the bar trying to find a friend, but was then ushered into the back of a car — which she believed had been hired by Endemol, the Big Brother producers — with Brand. She claims Brand exposed his penis in the car, before they were taken to a second bar where she left him.

She said there had been no conversations at the time about the possibility of her going to the police, adding: “It was those laddish culture times.”

She said she had contacted the police after news reports about Brand were published in 2023, adding: “I was hoping it would be cathartic in that way.”

Speaking through tears, she said: “It felt like my innocence had been taken. I didn’t want to face the reality of what had actually happened to me.”

Giving evidence from behind a privacy screen in the courtroom, the woman was asked by Ian Winter KC, defending, why she had not told anyone what happened until she went to the police.

She said she had told friends and family at the time that Brand had grabbed her breasts and dragged her into the lavatory, but that she got away.

As Mr Winter continued to press her on why she then got into a car with Brand after the alleged attack, the woman became tearful. 

She said: “It wasn’t a decision, I just ended up being shepherded into a car.”

Mr Winter said: “You didn’t report it during the MeToo movement in 2017 when every woman in the world was examining whether they’d been sexually assaulted by a famous person.”

Mr Justice Bennathan, the trial judge, intervened and suggested that the barrister’s characterisation of the MeToo movement was a generalisation.

In response to Mr Winter’s suggestion, the woman replied: “I was hoping somebody else would come forward. I didn’t want to be the first person to do that.”

On Monday afternoon, jurors heard written statements from prosecution witnesses. One man, who was an employee of MTV, said he recalled the woman telling him that Brand had been “a bit pushy and aggressive towards her” a few days after the party.

He said: “I then remember making contact with Russell Brand’s associates and told them it’s not acceptable, you can’t do this.”

Brand arrived at Southwark Crown Court early on Monday morning with his wife, Laura Gallacher. He entered the court wearing a grey suit with a loose lime-green necktie, an open shirt and a crucifix.

The actor was described last week as having an “indiscriminate and voracious” desire for sexual contact and a “child-like expectation” of getting what he wanted.

Opening the case for the prosecution on Wednesday, Riel Karmy-Jones KC said the six complainants had met the comedian either through their employment, at social events or at gigs where he had been performing.

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