Prosecutor calls Russell Brand a ‘sexual predator’ at rape trial
by The Washington Times AI News Desk · The Washington TimesA prosecutor told jurors in London on Wednesday that comedian and actor Russell Brand was a sexual predator with an “indiscriminate and voracious” desire for sexual contact, opening the case in his rape and sexual assault trial, the Associated Press reported.
Mr. Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault. The charges involve six women and alleged offenses between 1999 and 2009. British law protects the women’s identities for life.
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told the jury at Southwark Crown Court that the women do not know one another. She said they were allegedly assaulted in a hotel room, at workplaces, in a toilet cubicle at a bar and at Mr. Brand’s home.
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Ms. Karmy-Jones described the earliest alleged incident as a rape in 1999 in a hotel room during the Labour Party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, England, when Mr. Brand was a rising stand-up comedian. Two years later, she said, another woman alleges Mr. Brand tried to drag her into a men’s toilet at the office building where she worked. A third woman alleges he orally raped her in 2004 in the toilets of a London bar. A fourth woman, who was working at a radio station in 2004 or 2005, alleges he pushed her against a wall and kissed her aggressively, the Independent reported.
Another woman, who met Mr. Brand after a 2009 show at the Hammersmith Apollo, alleges he raped her at his home after the two had consensual sex there, Reuters reported. The court heard she had consented to earlier sexual contact with him, including backstage at the venue. She says that when he texted her the following year, she told him he had pushed her far enough and he replied that he was sorry. A sixth woman, a Channel 4 worker, accuses him of sexual assault while he was filming a project in 2009.
A former friend of Mr. Brand’s told the court Wednesday afternoon that Mr. Brand boasted on the way to the 1999 conference that he hoped to sleep with more than 5,000 women, the Independent reported. Prosecutors had cited the account in their opening. Variety reported that the jury, selected Tuesday, consists of eight men and four women.
When police questioned Mr. Brand, he gave a prepared statement saying he had “never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity,” and that any accounts were reinvented or imagined after a documentary and press coverage that the statement called defamatory.
Arriving at court, Mr. Brand told reporters he felt blessed and was hopeful the process would lead to good outcomes for everyone involved.
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Mr. Brand rose to prominence in the early 2000s hosting television programs and a BBC radio show and appearing in films including “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” He has since moved away from mainstream media, relocated to Florida and built a large online following.
The trial is expected to last about six weeks.
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