Editor’s Note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find distressing.
Russell Brand allegedly raped a woman in his hotel room after asking her to take photos of him in his underwear, a court has heard.
On the fourth day of Brand’s rape trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court, the jury was shown a video of a 2023 police interview with an alleged victim. The woman has a lifetime right to anonymity – Deadline refers to her as Complainant 1 (C1) – although she is named in the legal proceedings.
During the video interview, C1 claimed she was raped by Brand, now 51, after meeting him on the sidelines of the Labor Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999. The woman was in her 20s at the time of the alleged incident.
The couple struck up a conversation after he got “playful” and pulled back her ponytail. The woman recalled that Brand was “polite, courteous, attentive” and “childlike” during their interaction. She assumed he was gay and said she was not physically attracted to him.
She then attended a cabaret in which Brand was performing, and after the show she suggested he come back to her hotel room as she did not want to go to a bar or club. “He was very gentlemanly…I didn’t think he was trying that with me,” she said.
Once back at the hotel, the woman said she remembered going to the bathroom and coming back to find Brand in his underwear, “prancing around being silly.” The woman alleged that Brand asked her to take photos of him, during which, she said, he was visibly aroused. “I could see he was getting hard,” she said during the police interrogation played in court.
C1 claimed that Brand pushed her onto the bed, pulled down her pants and underwear and began to rape her. The woman repeatedly told police she remembered the weight he had on her and that he tried to put his fingers in her mouth. C1, who became visibly emotional during his 2023 interview, alleged that he “pushed and pushed” until he ejaculated.
“I know I said ‘No,'” she told police. “I went out of my head.” She continued: “I wanted him to finish quickly…and let go. He was making lots of happy noises and saying how pretty I looked.”
After the alleged incident, C1 alleged that Brand told him he was “regularly getting tested” for sexually transmitted diseases. She remembers him saying he had to leave to “join his mom” and writing down her email address before leaving his hotel room. “He tried to kiss me as he went along,” C1 said.
“He made me feel so dirty. (I felt like) it was my fault,” she told detectives. “I know I was crying, I felt stupid.” C1 said she did not report the alleged incident at the time, saying she feared authorities would tell her, “What did you expect?” », after inviting him to come back to the hotel room.
C1 came forward to police after watching the 2023 Channel 4 documentary, Russell brand: in plain sight. “I feel guilty for coming forward now and not before,” she told detectives.
Brand, a comedian and MAGA influencer, faces three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault based on allegations made by six women. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
During testimony Wednesday, Riel Karmy-Jones, the prosecution’s attorney, described Brand as “charming,” “ruthless” and “calculating” in his efforts to satisfy his thirst for sexual activity. Karmy-Jones stressed that none of the women who came forward know each other.
Brand will present his defense later in the trial. The court heard on several occasions that Brand refused to answer questions when questioned by police. 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.
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