Russell Brand's wife, Laura Gallacher, shook her head and raised her eyebrows as she listened to testimony from one of her husband's alleged victims at Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday. Brand is on trial for rape and sexual assault charges spanning 10 years of his showbiz career.
Accuser's Testimony
A fourth accuser broke down in tears as she recalled other people who 'didn't try to stop him', while Brand looked on blankly from the dock. Gallacher listened 'intently' in the gallery but raised her eyebrows and shook her head, whispering to a woman near her during the testimony.
Ian Winter KC asked: 'Why didn't you go to the police?' The victim replied: 'I didn't go to the police because, as I said already, I would have thought about a few things: one, who's going to believe me; two, I could lose my job, and I have a mortgage to pay.'
Details of Alleged Assault
Asked about other people in the room during the alleged assault, she said: 'They didn't try to stop him, they didn't move him.' The woman told the court she had asked police why those people did not come forward, to stop it from being 'my word against his'. She added that she was 'losing money by being here' and had 'flown halfway around the world' to be in court.
Earlier today, the court heard that Brand laughed after pinning a woman against a wall and kissing her 'sloppily' at a radio station. The comedian, now 51, is accused of sexually assaulting the woman in the mid-2000s after encountering her at the Choice FM studios in central London.
Witness Account
The woman told Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday that Brand appeared to find it funny after grabbing her breasts and forcefully kissing her. She told jurors that three men and a woman with Brand witnessed the incident and 'did nothing', other than to laugh afterwards to 'break the silence'.
When faced with questions about her account, the woman said: 'This was a situation I did not want to be in. I wanted it to go away. I don't gain a single thing by saying 'Russell Brand did that to me'. I have nothing to gain at all.'
The trial continues.
