Russell Brand appeared in court for the first time in his ongoing rape and sexual assault trial on Wednesday and revealed no one else had agreed to testify on his behalf.
At Southwark Crown Court in London, the prosecution has finished presenting its case and Brand’s defense team, led by Ian Winter, is preparing to detail its case for the jury.
The prosecution reviewed all the accusations made against the presenter and actor (also star of Saint-Trinien And Forgetting Sarah Marshall). He is charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one allegation of attempted indecent assault, with six women alleging offenses dating from 1999 to 2009. The final charge was reduced from indecent assault to attempted indecent assault by the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, on Tuesday afternoon.
Among the allegations is a woman who says Brand raped her in a Bournemouth hotel room in 1999 following one of his comedy gigs. Another says he grabbed her breasts and pushed her into the toilet of a Soho bar, where he orally raped her, in 2004. Another woman claims Brand anally raped her at his home in Hampstead in 2009, after consensual vaginal sex. Brand vehemently denies any criminal wrongdoing.
According to Sky News coverage, there was a “significant change” in the courtroom on Wednesday when Brand took the stand as the defense’s first witness. After he was sworn in, his lawyer began questioning Brand about the “sea of change” wrought in his life after he married American pop superstar Katy Perry in 2010. “It’s true,” the defendant replied. “Staggering fame. »
Brand was asked about the documentary which prompted police to first investigate him in 2023. Made by Channel 4 Dispatches and monitoring of allegations in Sunday timeBrand was charged with rape and assault. “It was devastating,” he told his lawyer, who then asked: “Have you managed to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to come forward and testify on your behalf?” »
Brand replied: “I didn’t.” When Winter asked if someone would “hit him with a barge mast,” Brand replied, “No.” He added: “My entire life has been consumed by these allegations. I have devoted myself to these issues.”
Winter presented Brand with various statements from the plaintiffs, some of whom he recalled meeting and others he said he did not remember. Winter asked Brand, “Is this something you usually do? Talk during sex?” His client responded, “Yes…I think I would have said, ‘Am I doing this right, do you like it, is it okay?’
Brand said when asked for his thoughts on consent: “Consent is fundamental, essential and necessary, and in many ways more important than sex itself. »
The third complainant claims that Brand groped her breasts at a bar before pulling her to the toilet and forcing her to perform oral sex on him. He remembers meeting her, he told the court. “Is there any question about you just grabbing her tits?” Winter told Brand. “Absolutely not,” he replied, saying the act didn’t excite him because it was “disgusting behavior.”
He remembers talking to the complainant for less than a minute before going to the bathroom to “have some fun”. Winter said: “To your knowledge, is there any doubt that she did not consent to go into the cabin with you?” » Brand told him: “There is absolutely no doubt about it. »
More to come…
Gn entert
