Russell Brand Tells Court No Witness Has Agreed to Testify for Him as He Denies All Charges

Russell Brand gave evidence for the first time on Wednesday at his rape and sexual assault trial in London, telling jurors that nobody with relevant evidence has agreed to testify for him.

At Southwark Crown Court, the prosecution has finished presenting its case, and the defense team led by Ian Winter is now laying out its arguments. Brand, a comedian and presenter who also appeared in St. Trinian's and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, faces three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault. Six women allege offenses dating from 1999 to 2009. Justice Bennathan reduced the final charge from indecent assault to attempted indecent assault on Tuesday afternoon. Brand strongly denies any criminal wrongdoing.

One woman says Brand raped her in a Bournemouth hotel room in 1999 after a comedy show. Another alleges that in 2004 he grabbed her breasts and pushed her into a toilet in a Soho bar, where he orally raped her. A third says he anally raped her at his Hampstead home in 2009, following consensual vaginal sex.

According to Sky News, there was a significant shift in the courtroom as Brand became the first defense witness. Asked about the sea of change in his life after he married U.S. pop star Katy Perry in 2010, he replied: "Staggering fame." He was also questioned about the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary that led police to first investigate him in 2023, and which was followed by allegations in The Sunday Times. "It was devastating," he said.

Winter asked whether Brand had been able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to testify for him. "I have not," he answered. Asked whether anyone would touch him with a bargepole, he said: "No." He added: "My entire life has been consumed by these allegations."

Winter took Brand through statements from the complainants. He remembers meeting some of the women and has no recollection of others. Asked whether he normally speaks during sex, Brand said he believed he would have asked questions such as whether he was doing it right and whether the other person was comfortable. On consent, he said it is "fundamental, essential and necessary, and in many ways more important than sex itself."

Of the first complainant, Brand said he recalled meeting her at the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999 and found her "loquacious" and "interesting." Asked whether there was any truth in her claim that he raped her that night, he said: "No." Under cross-examination, the prosecution suggested he did not care whether she wanted sex. Brand said he cared "very much" and added: "I know what no means."

The third complainant alleges he groped her in a bar, led her to the toilets and forced her to perform oral sex. Brand said a friend introduced them with words to the effect of there being a woman who really wanted to meet him, and that he would have told her she was beautiful. He denied grabbing her breasts, calling it "disgusting behavior." He said they spoke for less than a minute before going to the bathroom to "fool around," that there was "absolutely no question" she consented to going into the cubicle, and that his penis did not enter her mouth.

On the 2009 allegation, Brand described a "memorable" encounter after which he was "excited and enthusiastic" to see the woman again. He acknowledged they had consensual vaginal sex in his bedroom, but denied anally raping her and said she did not tell him to stop. The trial could last up to six weeks.