Russell Brand is standing trial at Southwark Crown Court in London, facing three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. The allegations date from between 1999 and 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Prosecution opens case
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones opened the trial with her statement, telling the court the six alleged victims, all women, “did not know each other then and do not know each other now” and “came forward independently of each other”. Karmy-Jones said the allegations “punctuate” 10 years of Brand’s life when “his career was beginning to flourish”.
Allegations detailed in court
The first alleged victim is a woman Brand allegedly raped in a hotel room during a Labour party conference in Bournemouth in 1999. The court heard the complainant, who was in her 20s at the time, said when she came out of the bathroom at her hotel room, Brand was topless and “prancing around the room – a bit like an ostrich, doing silly walks like Basil Fawlty”.
The second alleged victim is a woman who worked at MTV at the time of the alleged indecent assault incident in 2001. Jurors were told Brand had allegedly tried to force her into a toilet and that she “resisted by struggling and pulling back”. The woman felt “bewildered and shocked”, Karmy-Jones said.
The third alleged victim is a woman who was also allegedly forced into a toilet by Brand during an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004. The court heard Brand “grabbed her arm and held her quite strongly and pulled her into the lavatory” where he allegedly orally raped her.
Further allegations and trial continues
The fourth alleged victim is a woman who was in her 20s and working at a radio station in 2004 or 2005 when Brand allegedly sexually assaulted her. Karmy-Jones said Brand “instantly grabbed her by the face with both hands” and “pushed her up against a wall, where he kissed her ‘sloppily and aggressively’”. The prosecutor added: “During this assault he also grabbed her body, at her breasts, sides and buttocks aggressively.”
The trial continues at Southwark Crown Court.
