Russell Brand took the stand at his criminal trial in London on Wednesday, denying all charges against him and revealing he had failed to convince anyone to testify on his behalf.
He was called by his lawyer, Ian Winter KC, as his first witness as his defense began to present its case, according to Sky News. Winter began by asking Brand if he had committed each of the alleged offenses he is accused of, to which he repeatedly responded, “No.” When asked about his fame in the mid-2000s, Brand said his marriage to Katy Perry in 2010 brought him “staggering fame.”
Brand then revealed that no one with relevant information agreed to testify on his behalf during the trial. “My whole life has been consumed by these allegations,” he told Southwark Crown Court. “I have devoted myself to these issues.”
He called the Channel 4 documentary about him “devastating” and claimed he was unable to visit his sick son in hospital because he had been publicly accused of rape. “The reason Great Ormond Street Hospital gave when my son was undergoing open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was because of the information published,” he said, according to Sky News.
On Tuesday, Judge Bennathan reduced one of seven charges against Brand from indecent assault to attempted indecent assault, telling jurors there was “insufficient evidence” regarding an alleged 2001 incident involving an MTV employee. He was also charged with three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case involves six complainants, all of whom are automatically granted lifetime anonymity under UK law, and concerns alleged offenses occurring between 1999 and 2009.
Outside the courthouse on Wednesday, Brand told reporters (via Sky News): “Due to today’s circumstances, I think it would be inappropriate for me to say anything other than that I am very grateful that today is a day for truth and justice and we are fortunate to have a system so far that is able to accommodate such things.” » He was accompanied by his wife, Laura Gallacher.
On the stand, Brand was then asked about the first allegation, regarding a woman who claimed he raped her at the Labor Party conference in 1999. After meeting at her cabaret show, Brand said the woman “suggested we go to her hotel room” and he thought there might be a “possibility of sex.” In the room, he said there was “fooling around, body kissing and condom sex.” Asked about his claim that he forced her to take the photos, Brand replied: “I don’t know how you can force someone to take photos.”
Moving on to the second accusation, involving a woman who claims Brand grabbed her and tried to pull her into a toilet while she was working at MTV in 2001, Brand said he had no memory of the alleged incident. Regarding the third complainant, who alleges Brand squeezed her breasts at a party in Soho in 2004 and then orally raped her in the toilet, he said he was introduced to her by the party host as a “bird” who “really wanted to meet you”. He said he “absolutely” did not grab her breasts and that the toilet in which she claimed he orally raped her “was not suitable for me to achieve the objective… of removing it”.
The prosecution presented its case over the past two weeks. In an opening statement, Riel Karmy-Jones KC detailed each accusation against Brand, calling him “ruthless and calculated” with a “blind and voracious” desire for sexual contact. The first complainant alleges he raped her at the Labor Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999 after asking her to take a photo of him half-naked. The second alleged incident involves a woman who worked at MTV in 2001, where she claims Brand grabbed her and tried to pull her into the toilet. The third woman claims Brand squeezed her breasts at a party in Soho in 2004, then orally raped her in the toilet. The fourth allegation occurred at Capital Radio in 2004/2005, where Brand allegedly pushed a woman against a wall and “aggressively” kissed her while grabbing “her body, breasts, sides and buttocks”, the prosecution said. The fifth woman alleges that Brand anally raped her in 2009 after they had consensual vaginal sex. The sixth claim comes from a woman who alleges that Brand asked her for a massage while she was on a mission in 2009.
The trial will continue on Thursday.
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