A woman told police she was left unable to speak or breathe when comedian Russell Brand alleged anally raped her at his Hampstead home, telling her to clean up the mess afterward, Southwark Crown Court heard on Tuesday. The jury was shown a video-recorded police interview in which the woman described the assault as one of the most painful experiences of her life, explaining that she had spent years torturing herself over what happened.
The 51-year-old television personality sat upright in the dock as the interview was played. Brand faces trial on seven counts involving six women between 1999 and 2009, comprising three charges of rape, three charges of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault. He denies every charge and has entered not guilty pleas to all allegations.
Recalling how she first encountered Brand in 2009, the woman said she was a massive fan and felt giddy when meeting him following a stand-up performance at the Hammersmith Apollo. She alleged that Brand pointed at her and said 'you' before inviting her, her friend, and a third 19-year-old woman to join him for drinks. After Brand's security guard brought them backstage, the woman performed oral sex on the performer but declined penetrative sex. While her friend left, Brand had sex on a sofa with the 19-year-old.
Leaving the dressing room feeling awful and disgusting, the woman was asked by Brand why she had turned down penetrative sex. When she explained she had a boyfriend, Brand replied: 'We don't belong to anyone, we're all free, the ownership of people is sort of what we've been sold.' Brand obtained her phone number and began calling and messaging her, persuasively encouraging her to visit his three-storey townhouse in Hampstead, north-west London.
A few days later, Brand's driver collected the woman and brought her to his home. She acknowledged that she went willingly, anticipating sex, saying: 'I've really struggled for a really long time to accept what happened to me, because I went there knowingly and willingly.' Upon her arrival, Brand told her: 'This is the best decision you've made.' However, once in his bedroom, he made her brush her teeth and shower because her hair smelled 'funny,' which left her feeling 'really dirty.'
She recalled the dark bedroom with its enormous bed, black furnishings, a crucifix hanging above the bed, and distinctive black toilet paper in the ensuite bathroom, details later shown in photographs to the jury. She noted that while it initially felt like a thrilling thing to visit someone she fancied and admired as a comedy fan, 'all those things didn't feel that good.'
The pair engaged in consensual vaginal sex, but the woman said she did not enjoy it, describing it as very awkward and stating: 'It didn't matter who I was, and I just sort of wanted it to be over.' She testified that Brand then anally raped her without warning or asking. 'I don't know how long it took for me between it going on and me asking him to stop. I don't think it was very long. I felt like I couldn't speak or breathe, the amount of pain,' she told police.
She began begging him to stop, initially softly and then louder, but Brand continued the assault. Afterward, she said he appeared 'absolutely fucking horrified.' Expecting an apology, she said Brand instead told her: 'You need to clear up the mess you've made,' or as she summarized elsewhere, 'Clear up the mess you've made.' Shortly after, one of Brand's aides asked her to leave, stating the comedian had a gig to attend.
The woman subsequently sought care at a sexual health clinic over fears she might have contracted HIV, and suffered from illness and severe anxiety. 'The way I would describe that event to people after was that it was traumatic and that he hurt me and harmed me. And when I asked him to stop, he didn't,' she said. Reflecting on the aftermath, she added: 'In the years that followed, if I spoke to people about it, it was very much laced with "I shouldn't have gone", and I think I tortured myself because I think it was one of the most painful experiences I'd gone through.'
Earlier on Tuesday, the court heard testimony given from behind a screen by two other women who accused Brand of sexually assaulting them in workplace settings before his entourage. The first woman described an incident at a radio station in 2004 or 2005 where Brand 'mauled' her by squeezing her breasts and kissing her sloppily during her workday. She told the jury that Brand laughed afterward, having overpowered her with such strength in what she characterized as a 'violent' and 'frenzied' attack. She explained that she had buried the assault due to a widespread culture of fear in the media industry during the 2000s when Brand was a 'big star.'
The second witness, who worked at Channel 4, stated she was left 'repulsed' when Brand placed his head in her lap during a 2009 filming project after asking her for a massage. She noted that two men, identified in court as Jack Bayles and Gareth Roy, were present with Brand during the alleged incident, which she subsequently reported to her line manager.
