Russell Brand has returned to court for Day 9 of his ongoing rape and sexual assault trial, after jurors heard he made a woman "feel like a piece of meat" following an alleged rape at his London townhouse.
Jurors watched a video interview with a woman who says she was attacked by the comedian at his home in 2009, after they met at one of his stand-up gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo. A few days after they met, she said she agreed to see Brand at his £2.3 million home in Hampstead Village, North London, knowing they would have sex.
Allegations of rape and degrading treatment
But she alleged what had been a consensual sexual encounter turned to rape when Brand, who denies all charges, forced her into a sex act she was not comfortable with, and she was left feeling degraded. The woman said she encountered Brand at the Edinburgh Festival after the alleged rape, and then received a "random" text from the comedian.
The woman said she then challenged Brand: "Why are you even messaging me?" She claims he responded by saying: "Because you are dirty and I want to push you further." In a later exchange she said she told Brand: "I think you've pushed me far enough. You treated me like an animal." The woman claims Brand then replied: "I'm sorry."
She said: "His response was horrible. I feel how I felt at his house was that I felt completely degraded and like I'd been treated like an animal, like a piece of meat."
Details of the alleged encounter
She said Brand, now 51, told her to shower when his driver dropped her off at his home, suggesting her mousse-filled hair smelled "funny". The woman said: "He told me to brush my teeth. We went into the bedroom and went on the bed. We kissed and started having normal sex."
Asked how she felt during the consensual sex, the woman replied: "I felt really uncomfortable, and from having to take the shower, to brush (my teeth)... I didn't feel the way he had made it sound in the messages." Describing the alleged rape, the woman claimed she was struggling to breathe and repeatedly told Brand: "Can you stop?"
Defence challenge and charges
Brand's barrister Ian Winter KC highlighted that the woman was a "massive fan" of the comedian at the time. Mr Winter put to her: "What you have struggled with is you went there consenting to what happened." She replied: "I didn't consent to what happened."
Brand, whose wife Laura Gallacher arrived with him at Southwark Crown Court, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault. The charges relate to six women between 1999 and 2009. The trial continues.
