The first complainant in Russell Brand‘s rape trial gave evidence on Thursday, a day after the prosecution described the ex-actor as a “ruthless” and “calculated” sexual predator in its opening remarks.
As a reminder, Brand 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.
In a pre-recorded police interview from 2023 shown to the jury, the first woman spoke at length about her interaction with Brand. They apparently came into contact in 1999 at a theatre in Bournemouth, England, where she was attending the Labour Party conference fringe events. They met at a show Brand was performing in. He was not famous at this point, she noted.
The complainant said she talked to him about doing a play around her political activism. “I was absolutely invested in that conversation,” the court heard, per The Times coverage. “I thought this was a gay man. He was very complimentary. […] I didn’t feel like he was trying it on with me. He was very polite, courteous, really intelligent.”
When Brand suggested they go to a pub, the woman told him she didn’t like pubs and recommended they go back to her hotel. She told police she feels “stupid” for saying that.
In the hotel room, the complainant alleges that Brand partially undressed while she went to the toilet, having told him to make a cup of tea. She says he told her: “Don’t worry… I’m mostly naked at home.” She felt “taken aback” and “shocked” as he began “prancing around,” making her take pictures of him on her camera before raping her. “I was frightened,” continued the police interview. “I remember feeling, ‘What on earth have I got myself into?’ He did rape me, he did push me on the bed … He did pull my clothes off.”
The complainant recalled closing her eyes during the alleged rape and trying to “stay strong.” She said: “I just wanted him to finish quicker. That sounds bad, but just finish and get off me. I remember him complimenting me, I remember him saying, ‘Are you enjoying it?’ I just didn’t answer… There was a point I remember when he tried to put his fingers in my mouth. I said, ‘stop it’, because I couldn’t breathe.”
Brand did not realize he’d done anything wrong, the woman alleged. She recalled him writing down his email and said he had to get back to his mother. “I know I was crying. I felt stupid,” she said, and wasn’t sure whether to disclose what had happened to anyone. “I was just shocked. I don’t think I slept. I had to clean myself …This was something dirty that happened to me. It made me feel so dirty,” said the woman, reportedly in tears at this point. “In those days it was your fault. It was always my fault. I’ve lived with so much guilt.”
She told police she thought about harming herself after the alleged rape and feared she was pregnant.
In the cross-examination, Brand’s defence lawyer, Ian Winter, said to her that the ex-comedian was “a young boy,” at the time and a few years younger than the complainant. She maintained they were on “equal footing.” Winter then asked: “If you didn’t want him to do something, you would’ve made that clear, wouldn’t you?” She replied: “Absolutely.”
She told Winter: “I did not go there for sex and I categorically did not want sex with him — some random man … He raped me. I may not accurately remember what I wore, what I ate that day, but it happened. He did this to me.” Winter also asked why she didn’t report it at the time, to which the witness said: “I was ashamed. I felt nobody would believe me … I was told if you come out with this, your career is done.”
Brand, who again denies that any of the interaction was non-consensual, reportedly rarely took his eyes off the screen as the complainant’s police interview played. The trial is expected to last for six weeks at London’s Southwark Crown Court.