\n\tEditor\u2019s note: This story contains details of alleged sexual offenses that some readers may find distressing.<\/p>\n
\n\tRussell Brand<\/a> has claimed that \u201cconsent is more important than sex itself\u201d as he forcefully denied the rape charges against him during a trial in London.<\/p>\n \n\tTaking to the witness stand at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday morning, the Forgetting Sarah Marshall star said his \u201centire life has been consumed by these allegations\u201d since UK press reports about his conduct in 2023. Brand said he had \u201cdevoted\u201d himself to attempting to get to the bottom of the accusations.<\/p>\n \n\tWearing an open white shirt and blazer, Brand was called forward to the dock, said his name and forcefully denied all charges put to him by his barrister Ian Winter. He replied \u201cno\u201d to each charge loudly as he was asked. He said no one was willing to give evidence on his behalf. Deadline has been reporting daily from a live video feed of the courtroom since the trial began.<\/p>\n \n\tStanding up and facing the jury as he gave evidence, Brand told the court: \u201cConsent is fundamental, essential, necessary, and in many ways more important than the sex itself.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBrand On Alleged 1999 Rape<\/p>\n \n\tBrand was asked about Complainant 1 (C1)<\/a>, who alleged that she was raped by the comedian after meeting him on the fringes of the Labour Party Conference in Bournemouth in 1999. The woman was in her twenties at the time of the alleged incident. She, along with the other five complainants, has a lifelong right to anonymity. <\/p>\n \n\tAfter attending a cabaret event in which Brand was performing, the pair returned to C1\u2019s hotel room. \u201cI hoped there was at least the possibility of sex,\u201d Brand told the jury. Brand said he was attracted to C1: \u201cShe was vivacious, vital, loquacious, unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tC1 claimed Brand pushed her on the bed, pulled down her trousers and underwear, and proceeded to rape her. The woman repeatedly told police that she remembered his weight on her and that he attempted to put his fingers in her mouth. C1 alleged that he was \u201cpushing and pushing\u201d until he ejaculated. \u201cI know I said, \u2018No,\u2019\u201d she told police.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand told a different story. He remembered \u201cfooling around\u201d and then having \u201csex with a condom.\u201d Brand claimed that he spoke to C1 during intercourse, asking her \u201call the things that elicit approval,\u201d including if she was enjoying the encounter. Brand said it \u201cwasn\u2019t a familiar situation\u201d for himself because he could not recall being with an older woman before.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand Says Alleged Anal Rape Victim Was \u201cCoquettish\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWinter turned to Complainant 5 (C5), who alleged that she was anally raped by Brand in 2009 at his home in Hampstead, north London, after first meeting him backstage at a Hammersmith Apollo stand-up gig.<\/p>\n \n\tC5 admitted having a consensual sexual encounter with Brand and another woman in his dressing room after the Hammersmith Apollo gig, during which she gave the comedian oral sex. Brand said he recalled the encounter in \u201cstartling detail\u201d because C5 \u201cput her tongue in my anus.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThey met days later at his home in Hampstead. Both accept they had consensual vaginal sex with a condom. C5 then accused Brand of anally raping her. C5 alleged Brand said to her, \u201cI want you to feel my cum,\u201d at which point he ejaculated inside her anus and she realized he had removed his condom. Multiple witnesses recalled C5 being in physical pain<\/a> and \u201cextremely distressed\u201d after the incident.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand admitted \u201ctalking dirty\u201d to C5 and saying words to the effect of, \u201cI wanna cum in you, I wanna cum in your ass.\u201d He recalled C5 being \u201ccoquettish\u201d and that she consented to anal sex. Brand said he took steps to lubricate C5 because anal sex would have been \u201cpainful\u201d otherwise. \u201cShe consented to continuing sexual activity without a condom,\u201d Brand said.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Despicable Me actor told the court that he saved C5\u2019s number in his phone with the initial \u201cT,\u201d which he said was an abbreviation for \u201ctart,\u201d and \u201cAP,\u201d meaning \u201canal play.\u201d The number also included \u201c**,\u201d which Brand said meant: \u201cNever forget this individual \u2014 this was a memorable encounter.\u201d Riel Karmy-Jones, the prosecution barrister, accused Brand of retrofitting his definitions to fit his evidence. Karmy-Jones alleged that \u201cAP\u201d could just as easily stand for \u201cafter party.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBrand Denies Alleged 2004 Oral Rape<\/p>\n \n\tBrand faced questions on Complainant C3 (C3), who alleges he orally raped her in the toilet of a London bar at the birthday party of a TV producer. The court heard a police interview from C3 last week alleging Brand<\/a> \u201cliterally just grabbed my boobs\u201d and dragged her into the toilet before forcing his penis into her mouth and subsequently ejaculating.<\/p>\n \n\tAccording to Brand today, he initially had no recollection of encountering C3 before he returned to the bar with his solicitors after the allegation was put to him and meeting C3 came back to him.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, Brand firmly denied the allegation, saying he arrived at the party and was told by the TV producer, \u201cThere\u2019s a bird here who really wants to meet you mate.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tHe described C3 as being \u201cwide eyed, enthusiastic and flirty\u201d and denied grabbing her breast, but instead said they both decided to go to the toilet cubicle together.<\/p>\n \n\tAfter some \u201ckissing, touching and fooling around\u201d and while it\u2019s \u201cpossible\u201d he \u201cwould have taken my penis out of my trousers,\u201d Brand said \u201cthe environment was unsuitable for me to meet the goal I went in there with,\u201d which would have been achieving an orgasm.<\/p>\n \n\tHe said he left the bar with C3 and went to a different London bar, at which point they lost each other and he \u201cmet some attractive women specifically from a TV channel called Babestation.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBarred From Visiting Son In Hospital<\/p>\n \n\tAfter the Channel 4 documentary about the allegations was aired in 2023, Brand told the court he was not allowed to visit his son, who was receiving open-heart surgery in a London hospital.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand claimed he was told, \u201cdue to the material that had been published in the public eye, they had to bar my attendance and presence.\u201d \u201cThey were unclear about what particular reason there was, but that was the reason they gave to my wife Laura and I,\u201d he told the court. Brand\u2019s wife Laura Gallagher attended court.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand said he did not call Channel 4\u2019s Russell Brand: In Plain Sight a \u201cdocumentary.\u201d Pointedly, he said, \u201cI call it a TV show,\u201d when answering questions from his barrister.<\/p>\n \n\tBrand faces three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and now one of attempted indecent assault, reduced from indecent assault, based on allegations made by six women<\/a>. His team has today started setting out its defense. <\/p>\n \n\tThe prosecution wrapped this morning with a final piece of evidence concerning a conversation between one of the complainants and a journalist for The Sunday Times, which broke news of the Brand allegations alongside Channel 4.<\/p>\n