A woman has told a court that Russell Brand raped her at his London home in 2009 and later sent her a message saying: "Because you are dirty and I want to push you further." The 51-year-old denies seven charges, including rapes and sexual assault, against six different women between 1999 and 2009.
The woman described the alleged attack in a video-recorded interview with the Metropolitan Police that was played to Southwark Crown Court. She said the encounter at his £2.3million home in Hampstead began consensually but became rape when Brand forced her into anal sex.
How the pair met
The woman told police she was a fan of the comedian and that he picked her out in the foyer at one of his stand-up performances at the Hammersmith Apollo to join him backstage. There, she consensually had a threesome with Brand and another woman at the gig.
A few days later the woman, who was in her early twenties, agreed to meet the comedian at his home, knowing they would have sex. She described the property as having "quite a gothic feel", with black, white and grey décor, a stag's skull mounted on the living room wall and a black-framed full-length mirror in the bedroom. Asked whether anything was distinctive about the bed, she said it was "huge".
Account of the alleged rape
Recounting the lead-up, she told the court: "He told me to brush my teeth. We went into the bedroom and went on the bed. We kissed and started having normal penetrative sex after some foreplay."
Asked how she felt during the consensual sex, the woman replied: "I don't think I enjoyed it, not because I didn't feel I had consented to it. 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 said Brand removed the condom and started to have anal sex without seeking consent. She said she was struggling to breathe and repeatedly told him: "Can you stop, can you stop, can you stop?"
She said Brand "looked horrified" afterwards, but instead of the apology she anticipated, he allegedly told her to "clear up the mess that you've made", which she did while he watched Quantum Leap on the TV. She said: "He put the TV on, he took a phone call, and I would say within five – not long – he left the room." The woman said she then left and was told by Brand's driver: "He's on in Hammersmith tonight and he needs to get ready."
The later messages
The woman said the experience left her feeling "degraded", and months after the alleged rape she told Brand he had made her feel "like a piece of meat". She said she later crossed paths with Brand at the Edinburgh Festival and then received a "random" text from the comedian.
She told the court how she 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."
The woman said the message upset her, and she later told Brand: "I think you've pushed me far enough. You treated me like an animal." She claims he then replied apologising.
She told the court: "His response was horrible – the second one, 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."
The trial continues.
