A woman who alleges Russell Brand raped her in a hotel room told a police officer she felt "frightened" when he forced her to take pictures of him on her camera before the attack. The complainant met Brand when she attended a fringe theatre event on her own during the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999.
Brand, 51, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, October 15, without his wife. The actor, comedian and podcaster is on trial accused of attacking six different women between 1999 and 2009. The Mirror reports that the allegations include three counts of rape, three of sexual assault, and one of indecent assault. He denies all of the charges.
Complainant describes alleged attack in hotel room
The woman told the officer she recalled feeling "frightened" after Brand forced her to take pictures of him on her camera before allegedly raping her in a hotel room. She recounted how Brand acted "like Basil Fawlty when he does his goose steps" before the alleged rape.
She told the officer: "I remember him being like an ostrich - like a bird because he was very leggy. I wasn't laughing, I just remember him jumping up and down being silly." She added: "Almost like Fawlty Towers-esque, like Basil Fawlty when he does his goose steps."
The court heard the alleged victim say: "I took pictures of him on my camera - he made me take them. I was frightened. I remember feeling 'what on earth have I got myself into' - and then he did rape me. He pushed me onto the bed. He did take my trousers off."
'I just drifted out of my head'
The court heard the alleged victim "drifted out of [her] head" as a "heavy" Brand raped her. The woman told the officer: "I just remember him on me, really heavy, and me trying not to let him. I know I said no and I just drifted out of my head. I couldn't get out of the situation - do I shout, do I scream? It didn't take long, I just know it was quick."
The woman said she felt "dirty" after allegedly being raped by Brand. She tearfully said: "It made me feel so dirty and I thought it was my fault...but in those days it was your fault, it was always your fault."
Jurors heard that the woman began "having nightmares" about the possibility of being pregnant. The complainant said she blamed herself after Brand left her hotel room.
She said: "When he left I remember waiting because I thought he might come back. I stayed in the bathroom for ages. I could have been there for hours washing myself. I was just cleaning myself constantly. It just felt dirty, it was horrible."
She added: "I'm a strong person, I'm resilient, but I've felt lows where I've felt 'this is the end'. I felt like I was back there, like I'd been transported back in time. I started banging my head against the wall. It was almost like a ritual I was doing and I did it over and over again."
Other complainants and trial background
The other complainants in the case include: an MTV employee who alleges Brand tried to drag her into a toilet in the company's Oxford Street office; a woman who claims he raped her in a toilet at a bar in Soho, Central London; a woman who says he attacked her in a radio studio in London; a woman he met after inviting her to his dressing room after a gig; and a Channel 4 worker who was helping him work on a TV project.
Prosecutors say the six complainants' paths all crossed the defendant's either through their employment, social events or through attending his gigs, but none of them know each other. The trial continues.
