Russell Brand's barrister has suggested in the defence's closing arguments that the comedian saving an alleged victim's name in his phone as "anal play tart" indicates he did not rape her.
Southwark Crown Court was reminded that the fifth complainant's phone number was in Brand's phone in 2012 with "T AP **" next to her name. Brand told the court during his evidence last week that the T stood for tart, AP stood for "anal play" and ** meant it was an interaction he didn't want to forget.
Contact name under scrutiny
The fifth alleged victim alleges Brand anally raped her in 2009 at his home in Hampstead. She said they met a week earlier at Brand's comedy gig at the Hammersmith Apollo in west London and had a consensual threesome in his dressing room.
Ian Winter KC said the prosecution had attempted to suggest the way her name was saved was "fabricated". However, he told the court: "It would not be in [Brand's] phone in 2012 unless she had given it to him and saved her name in that way."
Winter suggested to the jury: "You think you're at some point going to get done for rape, and so you record her number in that way?" adding: "Would you really save it as that?"
Delay and inconsistencies
Winter claimed the delays in reporting the allegations against Brand meant all parties "end up litigating in a quagmire of doubt" and "decades-old recollections".
He told the jury: "We invite you to remember that delay is a corrupter of justice, it is in the way of justice, some people say 'justice delayed is justice denied'."
"What were you doing in 1999?" he asked, questioning the jury if they could "hand on their heart" say exactly what they would have been doing during that time. He said that details in the case "really, really matter", adding: "The details are what makes you sure - when they add up they make you sure, when they don't they are the doubt."
He then went on to explain what he described as "inconsistencies" in the first complainant's allegations that "make it impossible to convict in this case".
First complainant's account
The woman alleged she was raped by Brand at the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth in 1999. Winter said the date the alleged rape took place is "missing or shrouded in the depths of time", suggesting her evidence was "unreliable" as to what day the rape took place. He added the complainant didn't know what day she got home either.
The prosecution previously told the court that the alleged victims were all unknown to each other and had nothing to gain from making the allegations, except "perhaps some closure".
Brand is standing trial accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one of indecent assault. He denies the allegations. The comedian's defence team is continuing to give their closing argument. The trial continues.
