Russell Brand jury hears woman’s account of alleged 2004 rape

A jury at Southwark Crown Court heard a woman’s account of an alleged rape by Russell Brand at a birthday party in a Soho bar in 2004. Her video-recorded police interview, made in 2023, was played at his trial on Monday, 19 October. Brand has pleaded not guilty and says any sexual contact, if it happened, was consensual. [1] [3]

The woman told police that Brand grabbed her breasts while they were talking, then pulled her into a lavatory and forced her to perform oral sex. “I just closed my eyes and tried not to be there,” she said in the interview, according to the BBC’s court report. She also said: “I definitely said I don’t want to do this.” [1]

Brand faces seven charges arising from allegations made by six women about events between 1999 and 2009: three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault. He denies them all. [1] [2]

During cross-examination, Brand’s barrister suggested the woman had willingly accompanied him into the lavatory. She rejected that suggestion. She also told the court that, at the time, she had told friends and family that Brand had grabbed her breasts and pulled her into the lavatory, but that she had got away — an account that stopped short of what she later told police. [3]