A friend of a woman accusing Russell Brand of rape has told Southwark Crown Court that Brand allegedly said he would give her an “autograph” on the “inside of your uterus” before the alleged assault. The 51-year-old comedian is accused of anally raping the woman at his £2.3 million home in Hampstead Village after she “said no lots of times.”
Friend Describes Apollo Show Encounter
The witness said she attended Brand’s Hammersmith Apollo show with her friend. She recounted that Brand ended the show by saying: “If you see me out in the foyer and you think ‘I really fancy him and would like to have sex with him, but I can’t because it is Russell Brand’, you probably can… my age range is from 16 to death.”
She added that Brand said he would give them an “autograph” on the “inside of your uterus”. The friend described being “picked” by Brand after the gig, but leaving when sexual activity started backstage. She said: “We were, I suppose, picked from loads of people in the foyer, invited to go up to this bar. There was another girl by herself, with a male friend who hadn’t been invited back. I suggested she hang around with us so she wasn’t on her own.”
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC asked if Brand started having sex with her friend and the other woman in his dressing room, and she told the court she had then left. She said: “I’m not sure how much time had passed, but yes, I left while that was ongoing.”
Alleged Victim's Distress After Incident
The witness said her friend felt “uncomfortable and a bit guilty” about what happened at the Apollo show. She said: “I think I asked her if she had sex with him and she said no, but he had had sex with another girl and that she watched and that she felt bad about that.”
She said Brand sent her friend a message, telling the court: “He wanted to meet up with her to finish what they started. I think I remember that being a part of the message.” The witness said her friend was “excited and flattered” by the message.
After the encounter at Brand’s house, the witness said her friend was “crying, really upset” when they met up. She told the court: “She said he sent a car to collect her. She had gone to his house, she had to be in some kind of room until he was free to see her. He was quite aggressive and then she said he forcibly put it in my bum, and it really, really hurt her. I asked if she was OK, I told her that was awful and I asked specifically ‘did you say no?’, and she said yes, lots of times.”
The court heard the alleged victim told her friend that Brand turned “really nasty” at the end of the incident. Her friend told the court: “She said there was a lot of mess… on the bed. Then he became really nasty and made her clean it up.” She added: “She told me she was in a lot of pain – ‘he really f****** hurt me’. She said she couldn’t sit down and she was in a lot of pain.”
Aftermath and Relationship Breakdown
The witness said her friend was “quite upset” with her for putting a picture of Brand in a photo album of their evening at the Apollo. The friend said: “She was quite upset with me because part of the album was a picture of her and Russell Brand and she asked me to take the picture down and I got the sense she was quite angry with me for putting it on there.” She added: “She said she didn’t want to see his face.”
The friend said in a statement that the alleged victim went home that night to her boyfriend and later told him about her interaction with Brand, and they then broke up. The friend said: “She was upset about the situation and came to stay with me. Brand was messaging her a lot, pressing her to see him again.” She added that the alleged victim “eventually gave in” and agreed to go to Brand’s home.
The then-boyfriend of the alleged victim said she was a “massive fan of Brand's at the time”. In a written statement read to the court, he said she came back from the Apollo show “very, very late and was very drunk”. He added: “It was something she felt terrible about and didn’t go into details.” He also said: “I think she then went and saw him again after that encounter.” The man added that Brand was “someone she really looked up to” and that she “thought he was amazing.”
The friend said the alleged victim later told her about the alleged incident at Brand’s Hampstead home. “I think they had consensual sex, (she) said he wanted to have anal sex and she said ‘no’.” She said the alleged victim recounted being “turned over” by Brand and raped, and told her: “He left and his assistant came in and asked her to leave.” She added: “She was quite distressed in the bedroom, she was upset and told me what happened. I told her it wasn’t right and it was rape.”
The witness said her friend was “embarrassed”, recalling her “on the bed with a hot water bottle laying all scrunched up”, and added that her friend “didn’t treat herself very well for a while after that”. Brand, wearing a white scarf, appeared to listen intently as the witness gave evidence over a videolink. At times, he closed his eyes for a prolonged period while sitting in the dock.
Brand had earlier smiled and said “good morning” to members of the press as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court. He was not with his wife Laura Gallacher. He was wearing a grey suit with a long white scarf draped over his shoulders, and sunglasses.
Brand is on trial accused of three rapes, three sexual assaults, and an allegation of indecent assault. He denies all the charges against him. The trial continues.
