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Russell Brand Trial: 21-Year-Old Accuser Says He Treated Her Like An Animal
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Accuser testified Brand raped her at his London home in 2009. She described being treated like an animal and degraded during the assault.
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Court Hears New Evidence
Russell Brand faced a rape trial at London's Southwark Crown Court on three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault relating to six women across a decade from 1999 to 2009. A woman who was 21 at the time of the alleged rape told the jury that Brand treated her "like an animal" after the assault. The court heard that the jury was shown more of the police interview of the youngest accuser, and the woman said she met Brand after one of his live shows at the Hammersmith Apollo and went to his house the following week.
The woman told the court that when she arrived they went upstairs to the bedroom, but Brand asked her to shower first, and she said she begged him to stop when the activity changed suddenly into something she did not consent to. The trial continued with the jury hearing further evidence, including the woman’s account that after the alleged rape Brand looked "horrified" and told her to clean up the mess that she made.
Friends Describe Aftermath
A witness who spoke via video link told the jury that the complainant had told her after the alleged attack that it had "really, really hurt". The witness said the complainant told her she was "just crying - really upset" after the alleged assault, and she said Brand had been "quite aggressive". Another friend of the same complainant told the court that the complainant said Brand told her she'd been dirty and had to clean up her mess, and the witness said Brand was "quite cold and keen to get her gone".
The BBC also heard evidence about the complainant’s pain and inability to sit down, as the witness said the woman told her she was in a lot of pain and "couldn't sit down". The witness said she advised the complainant to go and get checked out and seek guidance from her parents and to go to the police, while the complainant felt it was "all a bit chaotic in her head" and that it wasn't worth it.
Trial Timeline and Charges
The trial continued at Southwark Crown Court with the jury hearing testimony about alleged assaults spanning 10 years from 1999 to 2009 and involving six female complainants. Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges, including three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, and the allegations relate to six women across the period. A witness described the complainant’s father saying he pulled into the car park of a Little Chef so she could tell him what had happened, and the father said, "You have been raped, that is rape."
The court also heard a statement from the mother of the fifth complainant, who said she could remember her daughter telling her she had been raped and that she feared she could have contracted HIV. A former manager of the fifth complainant told the jury that the alleged victim said Brand "got quite angry with her" at his house and that she was told, "Look what you've done to my f***ing sheets."