Mark Pinheiro, who previously lived with Russell Brand in London, has appealed to other women following the disgraced former comedian’s convictions last week
Russell Brand’s former flatmate says he saw the sexual predator commit more crimes and is appealing to other potential victims to come forward.
Mark Pinheiro, a one-time pal who was the first to give evidence at the trial of the disgraced entertainer, says he is willing to back women up.
He claims he once saw Brand, now serving 10 and a half years for rape and sex assaults, try to drag a woman into his bedroom against her will.
Mark, who lived with Brand in London for 16 months from 1999, urged victims: “If you’re out there and you’re listening and you want to come forward, do come forward and I will support you. I’ll say it now as I said it back then, ‘I saw what happened’. It’s not a he-said she-said argument… there was a third party to bear witness.”
Mark speaks about the alleged attack he witnessed in new Netflix documentary, Russell Brand: Open Secret. He says he heard a girl shouting “Let go of me”, and “wrestling herself away from him [Brand]”.
He claims: “I open up my door, and I see Russell basically holding on to the girl with both of his hands, gripping hold of her arm trying to pull her back in like a tug of war. And she’s wrestling herself away from him, and then as I switch the light on, the light comes on and he lets go.”
Mark told us: “There’s so many incidents that I can remember.”
Mark first met Brand in December 1998 and they performed together in a cabaret group. Brand moved in with him at the end of 1999 until early 2001. They remained pals and Mark even celebrated several Christmases together with Brand and his doting mum Barbara, who raised the comic after his dad, Ron, walked out when he was just six months old.
But they drifted apart around 2010 when Brand met pop star Katy Perry and Mark last saw him during his Messiah Complex tour in 2015.
He says: “I didn’t speak to him, but was backstage and I got to witness a lot of his antics… seeing a lot of girls who are taking the invite to come back to stage to meet him and were queueing up and patiently waiting their turn. Mark says Brand made no attempt to hide what he was doing and accused his entourage of enabling his behaviour.
He said: “They were happy to tolerate it and that’s as far back as 10 years ago. I wasn’t the only person who saw things.
“I was kind of disappointed more people didn’t come forward.” On Monday, Judge Mr Justice Joel Bennathan sentenced Brand for attacks on four women; a fan he raped at his London home, another he groped in a Soho bar, and two employees he assaulted at Choice FM and Channel 4.
The attacks took place between 2004 and 2009, at the height of his fame.
Brand, 51, was cleared of raping a woman in a hotel in Bournemouth in 1999 during the Labour Party conference, where he had been performing in a cabaret. His trial heard that his wife Laura Gallacher, 39, with whom he has three children aged between three and 10, is standing by him.
Mark had told the jury at Southwark crown court Brand had bragged about being a ladies’ man who wanted to bed 5,000 women.
He recalled how the star often slept with up to three women a week in the flat. He believes Brand is a narcissist who suffers from other disorders, including sex addiction and a messiah complex.
He said: “He enjoys manipulating people to do what he wants them to do for him and he just enjoys it. And it’s a skill perfected and mastered.
“I don’t know of any time where Russell’s actually kind of honoured his word. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s a narcissist. I’ve seen the nasty side of Russell, somebody who’s in denial and who would say, ‘oh, you know, I despise violence’ or whatever, but he could snap”.
At least six more alleged victims have come forward since Brand’s sentencing, and prosecutors are now considering more charges. Some of the cases are believed to date back to when he was hosting Channel 4’s Big Brother’s Big Mouth in 2006.
Mark, who now works as a video FX supervisor, fears there could be more victims. He said: “I used to say to him, ‘Russell, you skirt really close to the bars’, meaning the prison bars.
“‘One day, you’re gonna get yourself in trouble’… Russell, stay away from the bars’. Here we are. It’s like some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way. It’s all kind of unfolded and ended up where he is now.
“He wasn’t above the law after all.”
In a direct message to possible victims coming forward who may be fearful they will not be believed, Mark urged: “I support them. I encourage them to come forward.”
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