English entertainer Russell Brand asked a woman to take photos of him “prancing” in “horrible budgie smugglers”, shortly before he raped her, a London court has heard.
Warning: This story contains details some readers may find distressing.
Mr Brand, 51, is standing trial in Southwark Crown Court accused of several sexual offences relating to six women over a 10-year period from 1999.
He has been charged with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault. He pleaded not guilty to all.
The trial began this week, and on Thursday, local time, the court heard evidence from a woman given the pseudonym Ms A, who claims Mr Brand raped her at a political conference in 1999.
Pictures she took of Mr Brand in her hotel room on the night the actor and comedian’s alleged assault were shown to the jury.
Ms A told the court she had met Mr Brand, who was performing but not yet famous, on the sidelines of the Labour Party’s conference in Bournemouth.
She told the court they started talking about politics and discussed the possibility of collaborating on a creative project.
Ms A told the court she invited him to continue speaking in her hotel room and did not initially fear for her safety because she thought Mr Brand was gay.
“I blame myself for inviting him back to my room … that was my office. That was my workspace,” she told the court, through tears. “He violated that space.”
This image of Russell Brand from 1999 was shown to the jury on Thursday. (Supplied: Metropolitan Police)
Mr Brand was aged 24 at the time of the alleged assault, and is now 51.
The court played video on Thursday of an interview police conducted with Ms A in September 2023, in which she outlined her accusations.
In the video, Ms A told a detective that when she and Mr Brand arrived at her hotel room, she suggested he make a cup of tea while she went to the bathroom.
She told the detective that when she emerged, Mr Brand had undressed and was in his underwear.
“He was prancing around, I remember him prancing around being silly and asking me to take pictures of him,” Ms A told the detective.
In the video played to the court Ms A told the detective Mr Brand was “jumping up and down and being silly like an ostrich kicking his legs up”.
She said he then pushed her onto the bed and raped her, which she described in detail.
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Later in the day, the jury saw some of the pictures Ms A said Mr Brand asked her to take.
Mr Brand’s barrister Ian Winter KC challenged Ms A’s memory of the alleged assault during his cross-examination.
“You fell under his spell,” he said to Ms A. “He’s a very attractive young man. He’s brilliant. He is very charismatic … you wanted to spend more time with him.”
Ms A replied that was “incorrect”.
“I thought he was a gay man, somebody who was intellectual and somebody who was friendly,” she said.
Ms A told the court she had no idea why Mr Brand had asked her to take photos of him wearing his “horrible budgie smugglers”.
British actor and comedian Russell Brand arrives at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. (Reuters: Corey Rudy)
In the video played to the court, Ms A wiped away tears as she described how she felt “guilty” and “dirty” after the alleged assault, but that Mr Brand had acted like “nothing was wrong”.
She also said she did not tell police about the alleged assault until 2023 because she did not think she would be believed, but decided to after she saw a documentary airing allegations of misconduct about Mr Brand.
The trial continues.