Editor’s note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that readers might find distressing
Russell Brand asked one of his fans to “clean up the mess” after he allegedly anally raped her at her north London home, a court heard.
On a busy day at London’s Southwark Crown Court, the jury heard from three of Brand’s six accusers. The court played a video recording from 2024 of a police interview with a woman, who we call Complainant 5 (C5), because she has the right to anonymity for life. During the two-hour interview, C5 was often in tears and distress as she relived her alleged encounter with Brand.
THE Despicable Me The star faces three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. He will present his defense later in the trial, denies all charges and has pleaded not guilty.
C5, who thought Brand was “interesting, articulate and intelligent about things others would avoid”, said she met Brand at one of his comedy gigs in 2009 at the Hammersmith Apollo. She was “invited upstairs for a drink”, after which she performed consensual oral sex on him, but told him she did not want to have penetrative sex.
She said he took her number, “thinking I would never hear from him again”, but Brand continued to message her and soon after she agreed to go to his home in Hampstead, north London.
She was driven to his house by a chauffeur, let in by a Brand associate and told: “Russell is on the phone in America.” Brand then came downstairs and told her: “This is the best decision you’ve ever made,” she said during the police interview, which was played for the jury to spare C5 from having to tell her story in the courtroom. Deadline followed the trial live via a closed video feed from the courtroom.
C5 alleged that Brand’s attitude changed when they were kissing on his bed and he suddenly said, “You need to take a shower because your hair smells funny,” which “didn’t seem nice” but made him “feel like I was dirty.”
Initially, C5 alleged that she and Brand had consensual penetrative sex and that Brand used a condom. “I didn’t enjoy the experience because I felt like someone was screwing up,” she added. “I could have been anyone. It didn’t matter who I was.”
After having consensual sex for a while, C5 alleged that Brand “put me on the spot” and she assumed he wanted to continue vaginal sex. Instead, she said he inserted his fingers into her anus before anally raping her, which she said was extremely painful.
C5 claims Brand told her, “I want you to smell my cum,” at which point he ejaculated in her anus and she realized he had removed his condom.
After she finished, she claimed Brand “looked absolutely horrified” and told her: “You need to clean up the mess you made.” » He then left the room and his associate told him that Brand would be giving another concert soon and that “as soon as you are ready, you can leave.”
C5 was in tears during the police interview when she said: “I went there knowing I was going to have sex with him and what I mean is penetrative vaginal sex. I went there knowing it would happen. I want to make that clear because I had a hard time accepting what happened to me because I went there knowingly and willingly.”
“He didn’t act like he did anything wrong.”
That evening, she said she told her roommate what happened and was in so much pain she had to “sit on an ice cube tray.”
She was later told she had an anal tear and became convinced she had contracted HIV, for which she tested negative. “I wanted to leave everything behind,” she told police. “I thought maybe he did that all the time. He didn’t act like he did anything wrong.”
Since the incident, C5 said she suffered from alcohol addiction and went to rehab in 2023, during which time she spoke about the incident. At that time, Channel 4 was broadcasting its Russell brand: in plain sight documentary, which was a catalyst for her going to the police.
“I tried not to think about it and it didn’t work, so whatever happened after that (police interview), I know I sat in a room and talked about what happened to me,” she said. “I just don’t want to die knowing that what he did to me, I didn’t tell the right people.”
“I had a feeling of guilt and shame”
C5 is the latest Brand accuser to testify and took the stand for questioning Wednesday. All the accusers came forward after watching the Channel 4 documentary, but none of them know each other, the prosecution said.
Questioned by Brand’s lawyer, Ian Winter, C5, who gave evidence in court from behind a screen, said she had “carried the burden” and “carried the sense of guilt and shame” for years after the alleged attack.
Winter repeatedly asked her if she had in fact consented to anal and vaginal sex with Brand, but continued to deny that that was the case.
“Just because you go somewhere voluntarily doesn’t mean the end result is (necessarily) consensual,” she said. “I did not make the decision to have anal sex with Mr. Brand. I did not make that decision. We never had a conversation about anal sex.”
The summer after the alleged rape, the court heard that C5 saw Brand from afar at an event she was working at during the Edinburgh Festival. She said he texted her and she responded by asking him why he was texting her, and Brand replied, “Because you’re dirty and I want to push you further.” C5 said she then responded by saying, “I think you pushed me pretty far, you treated me like an animal,” to which Brand then quickly apologized and the text conversation ended.
Pressed by Winter to explain why she didn’t tell Brand that he raped her, C5 said: “Giving you that answer is really difficult. »
Winter also pressed him on her “adoration” of Brand, with Winter repeatedly putting forward the idea that she was “obsessed” with Brand before meeting him for the first time at the Hammersmith Apollo.
“Did you know he was extremely sexually active with multiple women?” Winter asked, to which C5 responded, “Correct.”
“You knew he won The Sun “Shagger of the year” awarded by the paper three years in a row,” Winter then asked.
“I don’t think I’m aware of that,” C5 replied.
Testimony from Brand’s accusers has now concluded and the court will return tomorrow with witnesses. It was repeatedly told in court that Brand refused to answer questions during his police interview. Instead, he relied on a prepared statement in which he claimed he did not remember meeting the women and did not remember their names. He said any sexual contact was consensual.
The trial continues.
Gn entert
