Английн Саутваркийн титмийн шүүхэд бэлгийн хүчирхийлэл үйлдсэн хэрэгт буруутгагдаж буй Рассел Брэндийн өмгөөллийн тал нотлох баримтаа танилцуулж эхэллээ.
Рассел Брэнд шүүх хуралдааны үеэр өөрийгөө гэм буруугүй гэдгээ мэдэгдэж, 1999-2009 оны хооронд гарсан гэх долоон удаагийн хүчирхийллийн хэргийг үгүйсгэв. Тэрээр 2023 оны есдүгээр сард “Channel 4 Dispatches”, “Sunday Times”, “Times” сонины хамтарсан баримтат нэвтрүүлгээр цацагдсан мэдээллийн дараа өөрийнх нь амьдрал бүхэлдээ хүнд байдалд орж, өмгөөлөлд нь гэрчлэх хүн олоход хүндрэлтэй байгааг онцолжээ. Шүүгч Беннатхан өмнө нь бэлгийн хүчирхийлэл үйлдсэн гэх нэгэн зүйл ангийг нотлох баримт хангалтгүй гэж үзэн “бэлгийн хүчирхийлэл үйлдэхийг завдсан” хэмээн өөрчилсөн байна.
Прокурор Риел Карми-Жонс шүүх хуралдааны үеэр Брэндээс бэлгийн харилцаанд орохдоо зөвшөөрөл авдаг байсан эсэх болон түүний өнгөрсөн үеийн амьдралын хэв маягийн талаар асуулт асуув. Брэнд хариулахдаа бэлгийн харилцаанд зөвшөөрөл авах нь хамгийн чухал болохыг хүлээн зөвшөөрч, өөрийгөө хэзээ ч хүчээр бэлгийн харилцаанд ороогүй гэдгээ дахин нотоллоо. Тэрээр өөрт холбогдох асуудлуудад бүх анхаарлаа хандуулж байгаа бөгөөд хүүгийнх нь зүрхний хагалгааны үеэр хэвлэлээр гарсан мэдээллээс үүдэн эмнэлгийн байгууллагаас хүүтэйгээ хамт байхыг нь хязгаарласан зэрэг хүндрэлүүд тулгарч байсныг дурджээ.
Шүүх хуралдаан үргэлжилж байгаа бөгөөд талууд маргаантай асуудлуудаар нотлох баримтуудаа хэлэлцүүлж байна. Брэнд өмнө нь цагдаагийн байгууллагад өгсөн мэдүүлэгтээ өнгөрсөн хугацаанд замбараагүй амьдралтай байснаа хүлээн зөвшөөрч байсан ч одоо үүнийгээ буруушааж байгаагаа илэрхийлжээ. Шүүх бүрэлдэхүүн хэргийн нотлох баримтуудыг нарийвчлан судалж, эцсийн шийдвэрийг гаргах юм.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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Brand told jurors he couldn’t find anyone to give evidence on his behalf after ‘devastating’ Dispatches documentary
Earlier, Brand told the court that he had struggled to find anyone to give evidence on his behalf, saying the consequences of the September 2023 investigation by the Sunday Times, Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches were “devastating”.
His barrister, Ian White, asked: “Were you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to give to come to give evidence on your behalf?”
Brand said: “I have not.”
Winter asked: “Would they touch you with a barge pole?”
Brand said: “No.”
Brand later told the court he did not consider the Dispatches investigation a documentary, saying: “I call it a TV show.”
Key events
During cross-examination, Brand told the court that he “said very many foolish things as a young man”.
Responding to the prosecutor’s question about wanting to have sex with 5,000 women in his lifetime, Brand told the court that was like a riff of a joke made by American film-maker Woody Allen, who reportedly said the only advice his father gave him was about “F-word women”.
Brand admitted he was “obsessed” with sex in his younger years but denied being unable to function without it.
Karmy-Jones asked him: “Do you accept that on some occasions you would ask those you worked with if you could ‘go out and have sex now’?”
Brand said: “I don’t remember.”
Karmy-Jones asked: “Do you blame these women for throwing temptation into your path?”
Brand said: “No.”
Continuing her cross-examination, Karmy-Jones asked Brand whether he had a “goal” of sleeping with 5,000 women. Brand told the court he did not.
Karmy-Jones continued: “You said that consent was fundamentally necessary and in many ways more important than sex itself, that wasn’t what you thought between 1999 and 2009 was it?”
Brand said: “Consent is absolutely non-negotiable.”
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones is now questioning Brand.
She began by asking: “You blame Dispatches, don’t you?”
Brand was momentarily silent, before Karmy-Jones asked him again whether he blamed Dispatches for the allegations.
She then asked Brand: “You blame the media?”
Brand was again silent, prompting Karmy-Jones to ask “is that a difficult question, Mr Brand?”
“In some ways,” Brand replied, telling the court that there were different types of media and that he was a part of it.
Winter moved on to the final count of sexual assault, involving a woman who said she met Brand while working on a project for Channel 4 in 2009. She alleged he demanded a massage and put his head into her groin area, which Brand denied.
Concluding his questions for Brand, Winter said: “Are you guilty or innocent of these allegations?”
“I’m innocent,” Brand said.
Brand told the court he invited the woman to his flat where they had consensual sex.
When asked by Winter whether he used a condom, Brand said he did.
He said he generally used condoms “in first sexual encounters, particularly and especially if the partner wants that.”
Winter asked Brand whether they moved on to anal sex, Brand told the court that they did and that the woman said it was her first time.
Winter asked Brand whether the woman expressed any reluctance, to which Brand replied “coyness, one might say”.
Winter continued: “Did you say anything about seeking to persuade her?”
Brand replied that he did, telling the court he said “something along the lines of ‘you’ll love it’”.
Brand told the court that the woman consented to continuing sex without a condom.
“Did she tell you to stop, or that she didn’t want to proceed in that way?” Winter asked Brand.
He replied: “No.”
Court is back in session.
Winter has now turned to count 6, in which a woman alleged Brand anally raped her in 2009 after watching his comedy gig at Hammersmith Apollo.
Brand told the court that he had a “striking” and “memorable” sexual encounter with the woman in a dressing room before the alleged incident. He had saved her number on his phone with the initials “AP”, which he told the court meant “anal play”.
Brand told jurors he was “excited and enthusiastic” about meeting her again.
Brand told jurors he couldn’t find anyone to give evidence on his behalf after ‘devastating’ Dispatches documentary
Earlier, Brand told the court that he had struggled to find anyone to give evidence on his behalf, saying the consequences of the September 2023 investigation by the Sunday Times, Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches were “devastating”.
His barrister, Ian White, asked: “Were you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to give to come to give evidence on your behalf?”
Brand said: “I have not.”
Winter asked: “Would they touch you with a barge pole?”
Brand said: “No.”
Brand later told the court he did not consider the Dispatches investigation a documentary, saying: “I call it a TV show.”
Winter moved on to count 5, in which a woman alleged Brand sexually assaulted her when she was in her 20s and working at a radio station in 2004 or 2005.
Winter asked Brand whether he “sloppily kissed her”.
Brand replied: “No.”
The court is now taking a short break until 11.45am.
Winter asked Brand whether there was any question he grabbed the woman’s breast shortly after meeting her, Brand said: “Absolutely not.”
“That’s not the way I would have behaved – it’s obviously criminal but it’s obviously vulgar,” Brand told jurors.
Winter then went on to ask Brand about the third and fourth charge of sexual assault and rape, in which a woman alleged Brand grabbed her breasts before pulling her into a toilet at a bar in Soho and orally raped her in 2004.
Brand said he invited her to go into the lavatory to “fool around”. When asked by Winter whether she was happy to do so, he said “yes”.
He described the woman as “wide-eyed, enthusiastic and flirty”.
Winter asked Brand about the second count of attempted indecent assault, in which it is alleged he tried to drag a female MTV worker into a toilet in 2001.
Winter asked whether Brand “intended any non-consensual assault, sexual or otherwise” on the woman.
Brand responded: “Of course not.”
Brand tells court ‘consent is more important than sex itself’
Winter asked Brand if he got consent from the first alleged complainant when he had sex with her.
Brand told the court: “Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and, indeed, in many ways more important than sex itself.”
He said there was “no question in my mind” that he got consent from the woman “because of the talking and the intimacy”.
Winter is asking Brand about the first alleged complainant, a woman who alleged she was raped by the comedian after meeting him on the fringes of the Labour party conference in Bournemouth in 1999.
Brand told the court she had invited him to her hotel room, and that he “thought at the bare minimum it’s better than sleeping in shared accommodation” with his team, and that he “hoped and thought that there was a possibility of sex”.
‘My entire life has been consumed by these allegations,’ Brand tells court
Brand told the court that around the time of the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, which reported the allegations as part of an investigation with the Times and the Sunday Times, his baby son had to have open heart surgery at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London.
He told jurors that the hospital refused to let him stay with his son “due to the materials published”.
Brand said his “entire life has been consumed by these allegations”.
He added: “I have devoted myself to these matters.”
Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter, began by going through the indictment and asking him if he committed the offences, to which he replied “no” to each.
Brand takes the stand
Shortly after the prosecution concluded its case this morning, Brand took to the stand to give evidence as the defence begins.
Defence to begin presenting its case in Russell Brand’s trial
The defence is to begin presenting its case in Russell Brand’s trial at Southwark crown court, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault against six women.
The prosecution’s case has drawn to a close after nearly two weeks of evidence, with the jury to hear from the defence today.
In yesterday’s hearing, the jury was told by the judge, Mr Justice Bennathan, that the indecent assault charge against Brand has been amended to attempted indecent assault. It relates to an allegation that Brand grabbed a female MTV worker by the arm and tried to drag her into a toilet. Bennathan told jurors he had reached the conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to support the charge of indecent assault.
The court also heard Brand was interviewed by police on four occasions – in November and December 2023, January 2024 and July 2025. Brand’s pre-prepared statement to police in November 2023 was read out in court by the prosecutor, Riel Karmy-Jones.
In it, he said: “As I have repeatedly stated publicly and written about extensively, I led a very promiscuous life in the past, which I have spent years openly denouncing.
“I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity.”
Read our full report here:
Brand, 51, has been charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault, in allegations dating between 1999 and 2009. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
We will be bringing you live updates throughout the day as the trial continues.
