LONDON: A London court was to hear opening arguments Wednesday on the first full day of British comedian and actor Russell Brand's trial for multiple charges of rape and sexual assault.
Once a left-wing personality and comedian who shot to fame as a television and radio presenter, Brand has reinvented himself as a conservative and faith-based guru for millions of social media followers.
The 51-year-old faces seven sexual offence charges involving six women, relating to a period between 1999 and 2009. The women's identities will not be revealed during the trial.
Brand has pleaded not guilty to all the charges – three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one charge of indecent assault.
On Wednesday prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones is expected to set out the allegations against Brand in full detail.
The trial at London's Southwark Crown Court should last around six weeks but could stretch into December.
This week, judge Joel Bennathan selected a jury, eliminating six who had seen a 2023 documentary about Brand or read a newspaper article making allegations about Brand.
The judge warned the jury, made up of eight men and four women, not to search online about Brand before reaching a verdict.
Brand cut a flamboyant figure at initial hearings, arriving Monday with his wife Laura Gallacher and a heavily tattooed security guard, sometimes wearing sunglasses and carrying a Bible.
There has been huge media interest in the case, and he told reporters Tuesday he felt "blessed."
During the trial he will sit in a glass-walled enclosure with his back to reporters, facing the judge.
The trial is attracting intense media scrutiny, with numerous British outlets launching dedicated podcasts and US channels reporting from outside the court.
Born to working-class parents in Essex in eastern England, Brand launched a successful stand-up comedy career as a teenager.
He became a household name as a television presenter on MTV, Channel Four and the BBC, also penning newspaper columns and two autobiographies.
- SEXUAL ASSAULTS -
He then made a foray into Hollywood, starring in several hit films, and was in a brief, but high-profile, marriage to US pop star Katy Perry.
Now remarried and living in Florida with his young family, he has gained a new following as an influencer, with six million subscribers on YouTube, 10.1 million on X and 4.9 million on Instagram.
After a police investigation, last year he was charged with two counts of rape, two of sexual assault and one of indecent assault dating between 1999 and 2005.
The term indecent assault is used for offences committed before 2004.
In February Brand pleaded not guilty to fresh charges of sexually assaulting a woman and raping another women in 2009.
At previous hearings it was said Brand is charged with raping a woman in a hotel room at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999, grabbing a TV worker's breasts and forcing her into a sex act in a toilet, and kissing and groping a radio station worker.
The same London court held a high-profile trial of Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, with a jury in 2023 finding him not guilty of nine alleged sex offences against four men.--AFP
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