Russell Brand took the witness stand at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, responding to allegations from six women over more than four hours of cross-examination by the prosecution. Brand, who is on trial for rape and sexual assault, denies all charges: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault. He told the court that sexual consent is "fundamental" and "more important than sex itself".
No friends would give evidence in his defence
Under questioning from his barrister, Ian Winter KC, Brand said he could not persuade any friends or former colleagues to testify on his behalf following public accusations in the Sunday Times, The Times, and a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary in September 2023. When asked if anyone with relevant evidence would come forward, Brand replied: "I have not." Asked whether they would touch him "with a barge pole", he said: "No." He described the effect on his friends and colleagues as "devastating".
Blocked from entering Great Ormond Street Hospital
Brand was asked about an incident after the 2023 reporting when he was blocked from entering Great Ormond Street Hospital to be with his sick baby son. "The reason given by Great Ormond Street Hospital when my son was receiving open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was due to the material published," he said. Brand added that he was told "they had to bar my attendance and presence" and that "they were unclear about what particular legal reason there was, but that was the reason they gave to my wife Laura and I."
‘Obsessed’ with sex but denies goal to bed 5,000 women
Brand admitted to being "obsessed" with sex as a younger man but denied setting a "goal" to sleep with 5,000 women, a claim raised by former friend Mark Pinheiro. Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC asked: "Is it a goal you may have had?" Brand replied: "I don't agree, I don't recall the conversation you are referring to." He also denied being desperate for sex, saying "No" when asked if he sometimes couldn't function without it. Regarding the 5,000 women claim, he said: "While I don't remember, it's entirely possible it's the kind of badinage I would have engaged in when I was 24." He added that if he had told Mr Pinheiro he would not leave a situation with a woman without a conquest, it would have been a "joke".
Claims in Brand’s book used against him
Karmy-Jones suggested Brand had pretended to be gay to convince a woman he is accused of raping to let him into her hotel room. She produced a page from his 2007 book, My Booky Wook, featuring a picture of him aged seven with the caption: "This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls. It took 15 years to produce results." Asked if that is what he did, Brand said: "No," and added: "It's a joke. 'Look at me, I'm a little boy in my garden and 15 years later… I was meeting women'. It was a joke."
Karmy-Jones also read other extracts, including Brand's statement that he "would never have relented until I received my birthright orgasm" and that his "egotism and the single-mindedness with which I pursued potentially sexual conquests could often make me uneasy company". Another passage read: "Now if I want something – whether it's a job or a woman – I will determinedly, resolutely, remove anything that's in the way, until I possess the object of my desire." In the book, Brand described himself as a "fervid, febrile mass of sexual energy" towards the end of sex, adding: "I'll do anything. I'm demonically sexy." He also said it ends with him as a "guilty little berk in a sweaty tank top". When Karmy-Jones put to him that he is "guilty", Brand responded: "Actually not guilty is my plea in every single case."
Coded letters by alleged victim’s name in Brand’s phone
One allegation is that Brand raped a fan after meeting her at a Hammersmith Apollo stand-up performance in 2009. He told the court he stored her name in his phone next to the letter T, which he said stood for "tart". Asked what he meant, he replied: "That was what I used to denote casual hook-ups." He also added the letters AP by her name, which he said stood for "anal play", meaning "fooling around with anal sex". Two asterisks next to the contact, he told the jury, meant: "Never, ever forget this individual, this is a memorable encounter."
