Russell Brand was today found guilty of one rape and three counts of sexual assault.
The TV personality, 51, stood outside the door of the dock shortly before the jury delivered its verdicts and looked at his wife Laura Gallacher, saying: “Laura, I love you.” The jury foreman then delivered the verdict, clearing Brand of two counts of rape and one charge of attempted indecent assault.
The trial at Southwark Crown Court had heard allegations arose after the victims had watched a Channel 4 TV show about the star. Their testimony was heard in startling evidence given to the jury during the three-week trial.
VICTIM ONE: ‘He literally just grabbed my boobs’
At a party of his former MTV colleagues, Brand grabbed a woman’s breasts while stood in the middle of the bar. She accused him of dragging her to the men’s toilets and orally raping her, but the jury found Brand not guilty on that count.
But he was convicted of the sexual assault of the woman, who was then aged 32, at the party in Soho, central London, in 2004. At one point giving evidence in court, this victim broke down in tears.
In the interview with police, the woman said she was excited to meet Brand at the 2004 birthday party, but said within a minute of starting a conversation he had sexually assaulted her. She said: “He literally just grabbed my boobs, out of nowhere, just in the middle of a conversation and I just remember this weird maniacal grin, looming in front of me as he just grabbed my boobs.”
VICTIM TWO: ‘There was a culture of fear’
Brand’s second victim was working at radio station Choice FM in London between 2004 and 2005 when Brand attacked her. She told how she was left feeling “dirty and disgusting” after Brand assaulted her at work after arriving there with a woman and some men.
The woman described Brand as a stranger and told how he was putting his hands over her body. She said: “I literally opened the door and I’m standing in the space, very cramped, and he’s just leapt on me.
“It was very rough. I would say that his whole body was pressed against me, the kisses were hard and sloppy, going down my neck. The reason I used the word frenzied is because it was just, it was violent.”
The woman said three men and a woman with Brand who witnessed the alleged assault did nothing. She said one of the men laughed after she pushed Brand off and told him to “f*** off ”.
The woman said: “I wonder just how far it would have gone. If I was just alone with him, I wonder what would have happened. There were people there. They saw it.
“There is a man who is mauling me in front of people. I do remember I locked eyes with this woman. I pleaded with her. The men stood there and watched. There was a culture of fear.”
Prosecutor Ms Karmy-Jones KC said: “She had not met him previously, but she knew who he was, as his star was ascending and he was becoming increasingly well known at this time, not least from the spin-off televison show he was presenting from Big Brother. “When [the complainant] was leaving the bulletin room and noticed Mr Brand, he also noticed her and he instantly grabbed her by the face with both hands, and pushed her up against a wall, where he kissed her sloppily and aggressively. She remembers it being very wet. “During this assault he also grabbed her body, her breasts, her sides and her buttocks aggressively. [The complainant] tried to push him off, but he was too strong and he continued to kiss her on her face and down her neck and onto her chest area, grabbing her bum and moving his mouth towards her cleavage, grabbing her breast so hard that it was painful. “It was rough, fast and frenzied. While this was happening, she looked to the woman who he had been with, hoping that she might intervene and get some help, but she did nothing. She finally managed to push him away, saying words to him to the effect of f*** off.”
VICTIM THREE: ‘He hurt me and harmed me’
Brand anally raped a 21-year-old female fan in February 2009 after he met her at one of his gigs at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.
She told the court she had consensual sex with Brand, then aged 33, in his dressing room after the show after her father bought her tickets as a gift. The rape happened at a second meeting after Brand invited her to his £2.3million home in Hampstead, north London.
The woman said Brand made her feel “completely degraded and like I’d been treated like an animal, like a piece of meat.” She added: “The way I’d describe that event to people after was that it was traumatic and he hurt me and harmed me. And when I asked him to stop, he didn’t.”
The woman later suffered from alcoholism and had blamed herself for going to Brand’s home. She said: “It was one of the most painful experiences I’ve ever gone through.”
She said Brand, now 51, told her to shower when his driver dropped her off at his home, suggesting her mousse-filled hair smelled “funny”. The woman said: “He told me to brush my teeth. We went into the bedroom and went on the bed. We kissed and started having normal sex.” Asked how she felt during the consensual sex, the woman replied: “I felt really uncomfortable, and from having to take the shower, to brush (my teeth)… I didn’t feel the way he had made it sound in the messages.” Describing the alleged rape, the woman told how she was struggling to breathe and repeatedly told Brand: “Can you stop?”
Ms Karmy-Jones KC said: “Brand was aged about 33 by this point and his celebrity status was growing and growing. He was big on the comedy circuit and on the cusp of international stardom and [the complainant] was a massive fan. To her at that time he was alternative, quirky, and cool and she thought he was very attractive. She admired him and she fancied him.” Ms Karmy-Jones KC said at the end of the show, the woman’s friend recalled Brand telling the audience “something along the lines of: ‘If you see me out in the foyer and you think ‘I really fancy him and would like to have sex with him, but I can’t because it is Russell Brand… you probably can have sex with me. My age range is from 16 to death’. The next summer, the victim saw Brand at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and ran out. He then sent her a text message. Ms Karmy-Jones KC added: “Sh remembers replying something along the lines of, “why are you even messaging me?” And him replying “because you’re dirty, and I wanna push you further”. “She replied “I think you pushed me far enough – you treated me like an animal”. His response, which she recalls was immediate, he simply said “I’m sorry”.
VICTIM FOUR: ‘I was so repulsed’
Brand’s next victim was working for Channel 4 when he attacked her at a recording studio in 2009 while he was working on a TV project. She told how the day had been going well until Brand’s demeanour changed and his aides demanded she massage him in order to make him happy. She said she was forced to massage Brand after he thrust his head into her lap, adding that two members of his entourage shrugged and laughed when he carried out the sexual assault. She said: “I was so repulsed… and my automatic reaction was, ‘Urgh, you’re so bony’.”
Ms Karmy-Jones KC said: “At some stage he left the room and [the complainant] was informed by the two men he was with that Russell was unhappy and that he would not complete the advert unless she gave him a massage. “She thought they must be joking but then she realised they meant it. She said no. They said she had to, otherwise the ad would not be done.” [The complainant] was conscious that Channel 4 had paid… and was worried that she would be in trouble if she didn’t get the job done and the advert wasn’t finished.” Ms Karmy-Jones KC said the defendant walked back into the room and fell to his knees in front of the alleged victim who “froze”. He said ‘Come on then, do it.’
“She was startled and incredibly uncomfortable and looked to the members of his production team to assist her, holding her hands up in shock. But [they] just gestured for her to massage the defendant.”
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