Prosecutor labels Russell Brand a sexual predator as UK trial opens

Six women who did not know one another independently reported sexual offenses from across a decade, which prosecutors said points to their credibility.MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Prosecutors say British comedian and actor Russell Brand manipulated women to satisfy his indiscriminate “sexual appetite,” opening their case against him Wednesday on seven rape and sexual assault charges.Lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones told jurors at London’s Southwark Crown Court the six women who brought complaints did not know one another and came forward independently.She said the offenses span from 1999 to 2009, as Brand rose to prominence as a comedian, television presenter and radio host.He has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.“His desire, strong desire for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious,” Karmy-Jones told the jury.She described Brand, 51, as charming and funny when he wanted something but demanding and entitled when he did not get his way.The prosecution says he was a sexual predator.Brand denies engaging in nonconsensual sexual activity. His defense will have an opportunity to challenge prosecutors’ account during the trial.Karmy-Jones described testimony from a former friend who recalled traveling with Brand to a political conference in 1999.According to the prosecutor, Brand described himself as a “womanizer” and an “expert pick-up artist,” saying he wanted to sleep with 5,000 women in his lifetime.One of his purported rules, the friend recalled, was to tell women what they wanted to hear.The prosecutor then outlined the each of the six accusations.The six womenIn the first case, Karmy-Jones said Brand met a woman during a Labour Party conference and later raped her in a hotel room.Prosecutors said the woman had assumed Brand was gay and was confused when she emerged from a bathroom to find him partially naked.The prosecutor said the woman froze as Brand pulled down her trousers and underwear and raped her.When police questioned Brand, he said he did not remember the incident, if it had happened, according to the prosecution. He also said he did not remember the woman’s name and had never engaged in nonconsensual activity.The prosecutor said the woman did not file a report at the time and later recognized Brand on television; his celebrity and others’ positive comments about him contributed to her silence.Prosecutors said the second complainant, who worked for MTV in 2001, described Brand offering to give her a T-shirt she complimented, then asking her to show him the bathrooms.Karmy-Jones said Brand then grabbed the woman’s forearm and urged her to enter the bathroom with him; she resisted and eventually pulled away.She mentioned the incident to another person at the time but did not formally report it until 2023.The third complainant said Brand grabbed and squeezed her breasts at a 2004 London party before pulling her toward the bathrooms, where he raped her orally, according to prosecutors.A fourth woman described a rough, frantic encounter at Capital Radio in 2004 or 2005. Karmy-Jones said the woman looked to people accompanying Brand for help but they did nothing; the woman eventually managed to push him away as he sniggered.The fifth complainant met Brand after one of his performances at the Hammersmith Apollo in London in 2009.Prosecutors said the pair initially had consensual vaginal sex but Brand then turned the woman over and raped her anally. She asked him to stop but he did not, the prosecutor said.In a prepared statement to police, Brand denied nonconsensual sexual activity and said accounts of his conduct were reinvented following a documentary and subsequent press coverage, the prosecution said.The sixth complainant described a separate encounter in 2009 while she was working.Prosecutors said Brand threatened not to complete the job unless she massaged him; the woman initially thought Brand and his companions were joking, but when she refused, they insisted she had to comply.Karmy-Jones said Brand approached the woman while she was sitting in a chair and placed his head in her groin area.The woman eventually touched his shoulders as part of the demanded massage, prompting his companions to laugh; their reaction angered him, the prosecutor said.The woman complained at work at the time but felt her concerns were not taken seriously.She formally reported the matter to her employer and police in 2023, according to the prosecution.Karmy-Jones urged jurors to consider the six accounts separately.“When you hear them I have no doubt that you will find their evidence compelling,” she said.Brand’s trial began Monday with jury selection. Judge Joel Bennathan is overseeing the proceedings, expected to last several weeks.The women have lifelong anonymity under U.K. law and will not be identified.The case follows a 2023 investigation by several media outlets that publicized accusations of sexual misconduct against Brand.Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads