{"id":956778,"date":"2026-11-08T06:56:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-08T06:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956778\/"},"modified":"2026-11-08T06:56:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-08T06:56:11","slug":"hiding-in-plain-sight-lisa-wilkinson-on-how-fame-allowed-russell-brand-to-escape-justice-for-so-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/956778\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Hiding in plain sight\u2019: Lisa Wilkinson on how fame allowed Russell Brand to escape justice for so long"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lisa Wilkinson has thrown her support behind the victims of Russell Brand, taking to social media to say the comedian has been \u201chiding in plain sight for years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease hold a place in your heart today for the survivors who so bravely came forward and faced the court process with enormous dignity and conviction,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe enormity of the successful conviction of rapist Russell Brand cannot be underestimated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand has been found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy has been hiding in plain sight for years, as so many of these predators \u2013 often in positions of power, trust and influence \u2013 do,\u201d Wilkinson wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Brand was] predatory and used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes,\u201d David Roberts, the senior prosecutor, said outside court.<\/p>\n

In the courtroom Brand reportedly closed his eyes when the conviction was read out. He was convicted of raping a fan in 2009 who was just 21 at the time of one of his Hammersmith Apollo performances.<\/p>\n

Reports show that after the event Brand ordered the women to \u201cclean up the mess you\u2019ve made\u201d before turning on the TV and watching the science fiction series, Quantum Leap.<\/p>\n

Four guilty verdicts were returned while Brand was cleared of three more.<\/p>\n

He was also accused of raping a 16-year-old girl.<\/p>\n

Wilkinson praised the work of UK journalists at Channel 4, whose \u201cwork first brought these allegations to public attention\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Justice Michael Lee ruled in favour of Network Ten and Wilkinson in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case.<\/p>\n

That case came about after allegations aired on The Project, in which Brittany Higgins claimed she was raped by a colleague in Parliament House.<\/p>\n

Lehrmann alleged defamation by the broadcast, despite not being explicitly named.<\/p>\n

In the end, the court found Lehrmann had raped Brittany Higgins on the balance of probabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brand, a born-again Christian, said he wore the \u201cfull armour of God\u201d in court.<\/p>\n

When he was remanded into custody he loudly exclaimed, \u201cYes, my Lord\u201d.<\/p>\n

Before being escorted from the docks he repeatedly said, \u201cI\u2019m good, I\u2019m good, I\u2019m good,\u201d and made gestures of OK to his defence team.<\/p>\n

Almost echoing Wilkinson\u2019s sentiments, Justice Joel Bennathan acknowledged Brand has \u201cconsiderable resources\u201d and there were grounds to \u201cfear he might in the end not feel able to come along and face his sentence\u201d.<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit their website. In an emergency, call 000.<\/p>\n

Read related topics:Russell Brand<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lisa Wilkinson has thrown her support behind the victims of Russell Brand, taking to social media to say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":956779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[524112,524094,524096,72756,396138,25668,390213,524091,411684,376746,381975,524089,5729,443748,524111,46192,64,63,17192,524110,76344,13044,61971,13394,30112,9832,9771,1108,48347,524079,18231,76741,524102,524106,134,21814,72098,524083,489708,524114,524101,287311,25733,461168,524080,524108,385801,524113,379339,25663,2732,524098,434105,7812,524103,63597,1584,89589,55416,2022,1685,524093,61972,524095,392471,524115,43016,20246,252243,10315,6091,5220,524082,443854,524099,13396,524084,524085,251987,6671,524107,428112,1314,496270,670,427548,524092,472979,391726,380417,381853,442007,378543,524087,388313,524100,215379,524086,380229,63784,524081,524097,524088,523383,376539,409031,408098,380136,381772,392495,524090,408320,405988,24080,524104,5429,524109,524105,6624,32388,519071],"class_list":["post-956778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-s-former-host","tag-s-sentiments","tag-considerable-resources","tag-72756","tag-396138","tag-25668","tag-a-16-year-old-girl","tag-a-born-again-christian","tag-a-colleague","tag-a-fan","tag-a-place","tag-a-short-address","tag-allegations","tag-an-emergency","tag-april-15","tag-attention","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bail","tag-born-again","tag-brand","tag-britain","tag-brittany-higgins","tag-bruce-lehrmann","tag-channel-4","tag-christian","tag-comedy","tag-court","tag-custody","tag-david-roberts","tag-defamation","tag-defamation-case","tag-domestic-or-family","tag-enormous-dignity-and-conviction","tag-entertainment","tag-fame","tag-favour","tag-four-guilty-verdicts","tag-gestures","tag-getty-images-brand","tag-getty-images-reports","tag-god","tag-grounds","tag-her-support","tag-his-celebrity-status","tag-his-defence-team","tag-his-eyes","tag-his-hammersmith-apollo-performances","tag-his-sentence","tag-host","tag-jail","tag-journalist-lisa-wilkinson","tag-just-21","tag-justice","tag-justice-joel-bennathan","tag-justice-michael-lee","tag-katy-perry","tag-lehrmann","tag-lisa-wilkinson","tag-london","tag-media","tag-my-lord","tag-network-ten","tag-november-05","tag-one-count","tag-outside-court","tag-parliament-house","tag-picture","tag-plain-sight","tag-positions","tag-power","tag-prison","tag-probabilities","tag-public-attention","tag-quantum-leap","tag-rape","tag-rapist-russell-brand","tag-russel-brand","tag-russell-brand","tag-sexual-assault","tag-sexual-crimes","tag-so-many","tag-social-media","tag-southwark-crown-court","tag-sydney","tag-that-case","tag-the-full-armour","tag-the-mess","tag-the-balance","tag-the-broadcast","tag-the-comedian","tag-the-conviction","tag-the-court","tag-the-court-process","tag-the-courtroom","tag-the-docks","tag-the-end","tag-the-enormity","tag-the-event","tag-the-project","tag-the-science-fiction-series","tag-the-senior-prosecutor","tag-the-successful-conviction","tag-the-survivors","tag-the-time","tag-the-tv","tag-the-victims","tag-the-women","tag-the-work","tag-these-allegations","tag-these-predators","tag-this-guy","tag-three-counts","tag-today","tag-trust-and-influence","tag-uk","tag-uk-journalists","tag-wilkinson","tag-work","tag-years","tag-your-heart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=956778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/956778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/956779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=956778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=956778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=956778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}