Russell Brand Trial Enters Second Week in London as More Complainants Testify: Brand Has Pleaded Not Guilty and Denies All Charges
The trial of British comedian and former broadcaster Russell Brand on sexual offense charges entered its second week at Southwark Crown Court in London. Brand, 51, faces seven charges: three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault, involving six women and alleged incidents between 1999 and 2009. Brand has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies ever engaging in non-consensual sexual activity.
Opening the prosecution case, Riel Karmy-Jones KC told jurors that Brand's alleged offending was as "wide and varied" as his career, describing him as "ruthless, calculated and manipulative" and a "sexual predator." In the first week, the first complainant testified about an alleged rape after the 1999 Labour Party conference, saying she "categorically" did not want sex with Brand. Mark Pinheiro, a former friend of Brand, told the court that on the morning after, Brand appeared flustered, insisted they leave immediately, and later told him the previous night "may have gone a bit too far."
On Monday, jurors heard a recorded police interview with a third complainant, who said that in 2004, while working for MTV, Brand grabbed her breasts at a Soho bar, dragged her into a toilet cubicle and forced oral sex on her, and that she "froze" during the encounter. Under cross-examination, defense lawyer Ian Winter KC argued that the alleged restroom incident was physically impossible and questioned why she had told friends and family she had escaped an attempted assault, reporting a rape only after media coverage in 2023. She replied that she had withheld the full details out of shame and fear of being judged. On Tuesday, a fourth complainant testified that Brand grabbed her breasts and forcibly kissed her at the Choice FM studios, linked to her work at Capital Radio in the mid-2000s, while others present did nothing; she told jurors: "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.'" The court also heard from a sixth complainant about an alleged assault during a Channel 4 recording project in 2009.
Brand's position remains that every encounter was consensual, that he has never engaged in non-consensual activity, and that some accounts were re-imagined years later. Police opened their investigation after investigative media reporting in 2023, which several complainants said prompted them to come forward. The multi-week trial continues, and no verdict has been reached.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Russell Brand（右）2024 年在共和党全国代表大会期间采访联邦参议员 Ron Johnson。照片：Ron Johnson 参议员办公室发布，公共领域，经维基共享资源／Russell Brand (right) interviewing U.S. Senator Ron Johnson during the 2024 Republican National Convention. Photo: Office of Senator Ron Johnson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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