Russell Brand was ‘ruthless and calculated’, prosecutors inform jury as rape and sexual assault trial begins – stay | UK information
Brand was ‘ruthless, calculated and manipulative’, court docket hears
Karmy-Jones mentioned the allegations “punctuate” 10 years of Brand’s life when “his profession was starting to flourish”.
“His public profile was taking off as he was progressing from doing gigs as a standup comic at pubs and golf equipment to a TV presenter, an actor and Hollywood film star,” she informed jurors.
She added that the circumstances of the alleged offences have been “as extensive and as different because the defendant’s profession”, and that the offending happened in a variety of places together with a lodge room, workplaces, a rest room cubicle in a bar and at his house deal with.
Continuing her opening assertion, Karmy-Jones mentioned:
Some of the ladies concerned protested and mentioned no, others had no alternative to react to his advances nevertheless it mattered to not the defendant.
Regardless of who they have been and what they mentioned or did, Russell Brand was not deterred.
His need, robust need for some type of sexual contact, was indiscriminate and voracious. He could be good when he wished to be, humorous – undoubtedly – charming, likable even – when he wished one thing in return – however then demanding, entitled, a flirt with an enormous sexual urge for food, childlike in his expectation that his each need needs to be met.
He was ruthless, calculated and manipulative, and, the prosecution say, a sexual predator.”
Key occasions
Brand allegedly despatched a textual content message to the lady at a later date, to which she replied “why are you even messaging me?”, the jury was informed.
Karmy-Jones mentioned he responded: “Because you’re soiled, and I wanna push you additional.”
The prosecutor continued:
She replied ‘I feel you pushed me far sufficient – you handled me like an animal’.
His response by textual content was speedy – he merely mentioned ‘I’m sorry’.
She didn’t hear from or see him once more.”
Alleged rape sufferer ‘begged’ for Brand to cease, court docket hears
Continuing with the fifth alleged sufferer, Karmy-Jones informed the court docket that the lady gave her quantity to Brand and he texted her later that week.
She was collected by a driver and brought to Brand’s deal with, the place she mentioned they’d consensual intercourse, the court docket heard.
Brand then turned her over and raped her anally, Karmy-Jones mentioned.
She informed jurors: “She requested him to cease, at first quietly after which louder, a variety of occasions, begging. He didn’t.”
Karmy-Jones mentioned Brand had taken off his condom from the sooner intercourse, including that “the entire thing didn’t final that lengthy” and that he informed her afterwards to “clear up the mess you’ve gotten made”.
The alleged sufferer “blamed herself” and “hated herself for what had occurred”, jurors have been informed.
Karmy-Jones is now taking the jury by the subsequent allegation, involving a lady who met Brand after seeing his present on the Hammersmith Apollo in London in 2009.
The alleged sufferer mentioned she remembered Brand telling the viewers on the finish of his present: “If you see me out within the lobby and also you suppose ‘I actually fancy him and wish to have intercourse with him, however I can’t as a result of it’s Russell Brand’, you most likely can have intercourse with me. My age vary is from 16 to dying.”
The girl, who attended the present with a pal, mentioned Brand pointed at them and so they have been invited backstage for drinks, the court docket heard.
Karmy-Jones outlined what the prosecution says occurred on the bar:
On the best way she ran into Mr Brand. He stopped, he checked out her. They had a really transient change after which he simply kissed her, there after which, on the lips in the midst of the bar.”
The prosecutor mentioned the lady felt “star struck” and agreed to carry out a intercourse act on Brand, which the court docket was informed was consensual.
Karmy-Jones mentioned the complainant was in a relationship on the time and felt “remorse”.
What the court docket has heard up to now
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Russell Brand is in court docket going through three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one depend of indecent assault, in allegations courting between 1999 and 2009. He has pleaded not responsible to all the fees.
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Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones started the trial along with her opening assertion, telling the court docket the six alleged victims, all girls, “didn’t know one another then and have no idea one another now” and “got here ahead independently of one another”.
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Karmy-Jones mentioned the allegations “punctuate” 10 years of Brand’s life when “his profession was starting to flourish”.
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The first alleged sufferer is a lady Brand allegedly raped in a lodge room throughout a Labour get together convention in Bournemouth in 1999. The court docket heard the complainant, who was in her 20s on the time, mentioned when she got here out of the lavatory at her lodge room, Brand was topless and “prancing across the room – a bit like an ostrich, doing foolish walks like Basil Fawlty”.
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The second alleged sufferer is a lady who labored at MTV on the time of the alleged indecent assault incident in 2001. Jurors have been informed Brand had allegedly tried to drive her into a rest room and that she “resisted by struggling and pulling again”. The girl was felt “bewildered and shocked”, Karmy-Jones mentioned.
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The third alleged sufferer is a lady who was additionally allegedly compelled into a rest room by Brand throughout an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004. The court docket heard Brand “grabbed her arm and held her fairly strongly and pulled her into the bathroom” the place he allegedly orally raped her.
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The fourth alleged sufferer is a lady who was in her 20s and dealing at a radio station in 2004 or 2005 when Brand allegedly sexually assaulted her. Karmy-Jones mentioned Brand “immediately grabbed her by the face with each arms” and “pushed her up towards a wall, the place he kissed her ‘sloppily and aggressively’”. The prosecutor added: “During this assault he additionally grabbed her physique, at her breasts, sides and buttocks aggressively.”
Alleged sufferer mentioned Brand ‘grabbed her by the face with each arms’ throughout assault, court docket hears
The court docket is informed in regards to the fourth complainant, a lady who was in her 20s and dealing at a radio station in 2004 or 2005 when Brand allegedly sexually assaulted her.
After she had left a room whereas at work, Brand “immediately grabbed her by the face with each arms” and “pushed her up towards a wall, the place he kissed her ‘sloppily and aggressively’”, Karmy-Jones informed jurors.
She continued:
During this assault he additionally grabbed her physique, at her breasts, sides and buttocks aggressively.
She tried to push him off, however he was too robust … it was tough, quick and frenzied.”
Karmy-Jones added:
While this was taking place, she regarded to the lady that he was with, hoping she would intervene however neither the lads or the lady did something.
She lastly managed to push him away, saying phrases to him to the impact of ‘fuck off’.
Mr Brand stumbled backwards at that last push and simply sniggered – prefer it was a joke.”
Brand informed alleged sufferer ‘do not be a spoilsport’, prosecutor says
Taking jurors by the third allegation, Karmy-Jones mentioned Brand pulled one other girl into a rest room throughout an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004.
The third complainant was “not so fortunate as to have the ability to draw back”, the prosecutor mentioned.
The court docket heard Brand “grabbed her arm and held her fairly strongly and pulled her into the bathroom” the place he allegedly orally raped her.
Karmy-Jones informed jurors that the lady mentioned: “What are you doing? I don’t need to do that,” to which Brand replied: “‘Oh come on, don’t be a spoilsport. You need to,’ or one thing alongside these strains.”
The prosecution outlined the second allegation towards Brand, involving a lady who labored at MTV on the time of the alleged incident in 2001.
The court docket heard that the lady supplied to point out Brand the place the bathrooms have been, when he allegedly informed her, “Come in, go on, are available,” and “grabbed her onerous by her forearm”.
Karmy-Jones informed jurors the alleged sufferer “resisted by struggling and pulling again”.
She continued to withstand saying, ‘I’m not coming in there, don’t be foolish. Are you mad? Get off,’ and she or he managed to drag herself away, and to launch his grasp.
At that time he gave up and went into the bathroom, and she or he left the world.”
The girl felt “bewildered and shocked” by the alleged assault, jurors have been informed.
Brand was ‘prancing round’ like Basil Fawlty earlier than alleged rape in lodge room, court docket hears
Continuing with the primary alleged sufferer, Karmy-Jones mentioned the lady met Brand at a fringe occasion on the Labour get together convention the place he was performing, and that they’d engaged in a dialog that later continued in a lodge room.
The complainant, who was in her 20s on the time, mentioned when she got here out of the lavatory at her lodge room, Brand was topless, the court docket heard.
Karmy-Jones went on:
As she got here out of the lavatory he was prancing across the room – a bit like an ostrich, doing foolish walks like Basil Fawlty, she mentioned.
She was stunned, she was shocked, she didn’t actually know what to do – and in her phrases she froze.
She requested him why he had taken his garments off, and he mentioned one thing alongside the strains of ‘It’s OK, it’s simply how I’m, don’t fear … I’m largely bare at house.’”
The court docket heard how Brand allegedly raped the lady, who mentioned she was “drifting out of her head” throughout the alleged assault, and that he later “behaved as if nothing had occurred”.
Karmy-Jones mentioned the alleged sufferer was “left in shock”, “crying” and feeling “ashamed”, “soiled” and “silly”.
She added: “Throughout, she felt it was her fault. She nearly chastised herself for inviting him again to her room.”
Karmy-Jones turned to the primary allegation towards Brand, during which he’s alleged to have raped a lady in a lodge room throughout a Labour get together convention in Bournemouth in 1999.
She informed the court docket a witness named Mark Pinheiro mentioned he recalled that Brand was “determined” to have intercourse earlier than they left the convention.
As you’ll hear, the defendant did obtain his goal.
He discovered a sufferer, engaged along with her, informed her ‘precisely what she wanted to listen to’, after which manipulated the state of affairs in order to have intercourse along with her.”
The court docket heard Brand had burst right into a flat the morning after the alleged rape in Bournemouth and informed the group he was with to “pack up their stuff” and that they “needed to depart city instantly”. Karmy-Jones mentioned:
Once within the automobile, the defendant behaved oddly, shrinking down within the again seat to cover his head beneath the window.
When pressed about the place he had been the night time earlier than, and why they needed to depart so abruptly, he mentioned he had forgotten he had an audition.”
Brand would later admit to Pinheiro that it was not an audition however that he had had intercourse with a lady in Bournemouth the night time earlier than their hasty departure, telling him that issues “might need acquired just a little out of hand”, Karmy-Jones informed jurors.
The prosecution cited remarks made by Brand’s mates throughout the early years of his profession, together with one who described the comic as somebody who “was rampant in his need to have intercourse”.
Another pal, talking about Brand earlier than he discovered fame, described him as “very impulsive. His impulsivity led him to be very single-minded, and ladies and intercourse have been a objective and an obsession,” Karmy-Jones informed the court docket.
She informed jurors that these feedback would supply an perception into what Brand was like in his former years.
She mentioned: “This is necessary as a result of what you could keep in mind on this case is that, though you’re sat as jurors in Southwark crown court docket on October 14 2026 listening to my opening deal with, you may be contemplating offences that happened between round 27 and 17 years in the past, when the defendant was aged roughly between 24-33.
“So the person who you may be contemplating on this trial isn’t the Mr Brand who’s sitting within the dock, who’s now 51.”
She added that whereas Brand could have modified each bodily and as an individual within the years since that “his accountability for wrongs achieved, crimes dedicated at a youthful age stay the identical”.
Brand was ‘ruthless, calculated and manipulative’, court docket hears
Karmy-Jones mentioned the allegations “punctuate” 10 years of Brand’s life when “his profession was starting to flourish”.
“His public profile was taking off as he was progressing from doing gigs as a standup comic at pubs and golf equipment to a TV presenter, an actor and Hollywood film star,” she informed jurors.
She added that the circumstances of the alleged offences have been “as extensive and as different because the defendant’s profession”, and that the offending happened in a variety of places together with a lodge room, workplaces, a rest room cubicle in a bar and at his house deal with.
Continuing her opening assertion, Karmy-Jones mentioned:
Some of the ladies concerned protested and mentioned no, others had no alternative to react to his advances nevertheless it mattered to not the defendant.
Regardless of who they have been and what they mentioned or did, Russell Brand was not deterred.
His need, robust need for some type of sexual contact, was indiscriminate and voracious. He could be good when he wished to be, humorous – undoubtedly – charming, likable even – when he wished one thing in return – however then demanding, entitled, a flirt with an enormous sexual urge for food, childlike in his expectation that his each need needs to be met.
He was ruthless, calculated and manipulative, and, the prosecution say, a sexual predator.”
Prosecution outlines prices towards Russell Brand as trial begins
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones has begun proceedings by outlining the fees towards Russell Brand to the court docket.
She informed jurors:
Russell Brand, as you might know, and when you didn’t know earlier than this trial, is a celeb.
He was born on June 4 1975 making him now 51 years outdated.
He is right here as he has been charged with a variety of sexual offences together with rape and sexual assault as you heard, these offences have been dedicated towards six totally different girls between roughly 1999 and 2009.
Six totally different girls, six girls who didn’t know one another then and have no idea one another now, who’ve by no means met one another, and who got here ahead independently of one another.
Their paths all crossed the defendant’s both by their employment, social occasions or by attending gigs the place he was performing.”
Brand was pushed to the court docket in a black Mercedes-Benz van, which parked instantly exterior the court docket constructing, the place crowds of reporters and photographers had gathered for his trial.
Brand waited contained in the automobile for round a minute earlier than stepping out, sporting a darkish go well with, a black-and-white striped shirt, a protracted white tie and sun shades. He reached out for his spouse’s hand earlier than the pair walked collectively in the direction of the court docket.
Brand arrives at court docket
Emine Sinmaz
Russell Brand spoke to the media as he arrived at court docket this morning, saying he was feeling “involved however hopeful”.
He mentioned: “Today I really feel blessed, I really feel after all involved however hopeful that this course of will result in good outcomes for everyone concerned.
“That’s my prayer.”
Russell Brand rape and sexual assault trial begins
Russell Brand might be again in Southwark crown court docket at this time the place his rape and sexual assault trial is predicted to start.
We needs to be listening to opening statements from the prosecution, which is able to set out an outline of the allegations towards the 51-year-old comic. He has been charged with three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one among indecent assault towards six girls, in allegations that date from 1999 to 2009. Brand has pleaded not responsible to all the fees.
He has been pictured arriving at court docket this morning along with his spouse, Laura Gallacher.
A jury was sworn in yesterday, with a warning from the choose, Mr Justice Bennathan, to disregard previous reporting about Brand and allegations of sexual misconduct. You can learn our report right here:
The Press Association has been exterior court docket this morning, the place information crews have been establishing store a number of hours earlier than the trial begins. Here’s what the information company experiences:
A crowd of members of the press have been gathered exterior Southwark crown court docket hours earlier than Russell Brand’s trial was resulting from begin.
Photographers, video journalists and information presenters may very well be seen in place at round 7.30am, whereas a line of reporters waited to get in to the court docket constructing.
Members of court docket safety have been additionally exterior the constructing, together with a small group of law enforcement officials.
One police officer was heard telling members of the press to remain behind limitations which have been in place instantly exterior the constructing.”
The trial is scheduled to start at 10am, so observe alongside for stay updates all through the day because the case will get beneath method.
