'Consent is more important than sex itself': Russell Brand denies allegations in rape trial
Russell Brand faces three charges of rape, indecent assault, and three counts of sexual assault, relating to six women. Picture: Yui Mok/PA
Russell Brand has responded to allegations made by six women as he gave evidence at Southwark Crown Court where he is on trial accused of rape and sexual assault.
Alleged victims say Brand switched suddenly after appearing charming, forced them into sexual activity in a toilet, a hotel room, workplace corridors, and his bedroom, and acted as if nothing had happened after the attacks.
Brand denies seven criminal charges: Three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of attempted indecent assault.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, he denied the allegations and said “consent is more important than sex itself”.
Here is what he said in response to each of the allegations he faces:
A woman who attended the 1999 Labour party conference says Brand raped her in a hotel room after she had watched him perform in a cabaret show.
In his evidence, Brand told that court that he remembers meeting the “vivacious” woman and that when she asked him to go to her hotel room, he thought “at the bare minimum it was better than sleeping in the shared accommodation”.
Brand added that he thought “there’s at least the possibility of sex”.
The defendant said he does not recall jumping around on the woman’s hotel bed like an “ostrich”, but said he did “mess around, fool around, and show off a lot”.
Brand told jurors he would have asked the woman repeatedly during sex in the 1999 encounter if she was enjoying it.
He said: “I believe the kind of thing I would have been saying would include ‘am I doing this right? Do you like this? Is this OK? Are you enjoying this? Is this all right?’
“Things like that, really, in order to elicit approval.
“At that point it wasn’t a particularly familiar situation.
The court previously heard that the complainant thought Brand might have been gay.
Asked by defence barrister Ian Winter if it is “possible” that he portrayed himself in this way, Brand said: “I don’t think so.”
An MTV worker gave evidence that Brand tried to drag her into a toilet at the central London offices where she worked in 2001.
In his evidence, Brand denied having any memory of the alleged attempted indecent assault.
When asked by his barrister whether he “intended any non-consensual assault, sexual or otherwise” on the woman at MTV, Brand replied softly: “Of course not.”
Brand is accused of groping a woman during a birthday party at a Soho bar, then dragging her to the toilet and forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
The woman said she had been talking to the TV presenter at the Nordic Bar for less than a minute when he “lunged” forward and grabbed hold of her breasts.
Brand told jurors that he remembered his friend introducing the third complainant at the bar, telling the court the man said something to the effect of: “There’s a bird here who really wants to meet you, mate.”
Questioned on how she behaved when she met him, Brand said she was “wide-eyed” and “flirty”.
Questioned on whether there was any question he grabbed the woman’s breast shortly after meeting her, Brand replied: “Absolutely not.”
Brand said he remembered going into the lavatory with the woman, but denied grabbing her by the arm and forcing her into the lavatory with him.
When asked by prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones what he was inviting her into the toilet for, he said: “For fooling around, making out.”
His accuser has told the court she recalls being ushered into a car with Brand after being sexually assaulted and raped, as they headed to another bar in Camden.
Brand told the court the woman had got into his car “completely voluntarily” and he remembers being at the second bar.
One of the staffers at Choice FM in London told the court she was pinned against a wall, groped and subjected to “sloppy” kisses by Brand in 2005.
His barrister asked the defendant: “In your view, jumping on a woman and sloppily kissing her, does that turn you on sexually?”
“No,” Brand said.
The defence barrister continued: “Is that likely to lead to any sexual intercourse with a woman?”
“No,” the defendant replied.
Winter then asked: “Did you do what she said you did?” to which Brand responded: “No.”
Brand said he could not recall the woman during his evidence.
Brand is accused of raping a 21-year-old fan a few days after they met at his 2009 stand-up comedy show at the Hammersmith Apollo in west London.
The woman said Brand picked her out in the foyer after the show, invited her and two other women backstage, and she willingly engaged in a threesome with the star.
She later texted with Brand and agreed willingly to go to his Hampstead townhouse to have sex.
The woman said the consensual sex was “awkward” and then she alleges Brand raped her by having unwanted anal sex.
Brand said he would pick out people after gigs and invite them to the bar, but said he could not remember picking out this complainant.
He told jurors the woman had not said “no” or told him to stop as they were having sex.
Brand said he had not forced her into anal sex, he described her attitude as “coquettishness, coyness”, and he said she had never complained of pain.
During his evidence, Brand was accused by the prosecutor of “rough and violent” sex with the young fan at his home.
“The whole action was rough and violent, and just about your pleasure, wasn’t it?” said Karmy-Jones.
Brand replied: “It potentially was about my pleasure, but it was not rough or violent.”
The final allegation against Brand is that he put his head into a woman’s lap when she had been forced to give him a massage.
The incident is said to have happened at the filming for a Channel 4 project in 2009, when Brand grew unhappy as the recording wore on.
Brand was asked by his barrister whether seeking a massage in these circumstance brings him sexual gratification, which he denied.
He was asked: “From what she has told us, was there anything sexual in your conduct or behaviour or intentions in relation to that matter?”
Brand responded: “No.”
The defendant said he “couldn’t see what benefit would be derived” from putting his head in the woman’s lap.
Brand said during his evidence that the effect of the Channel 4 documentary has been “devastating”.
Brand said his “entire life has been consumed” by the allegations against him.
He said that consent is “non-negotiable” and is “more important than sex itself”.
Prosecutor Karmy-Jones accused Brand of staying silent on the accusations in his police interviews so that he “forged” his account around the evidence.
“Were you waiting to see all that evidence before you gave your account?” asked Karmy-Jones.
Brand replied: “I was doing my best to participate.”
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