{"id":654549,"date":"2026-10-14T14:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654549\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T14:28:12","slug":"russell-brand-a-ruthless-calculated-and-manipulative-sexual-predator-uk-prosecutors-say-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/654549\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Brand \u2018a ruthless, calculated and manipulative\u2019 sexual predator, UK prosecutors say \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

British<\/a> actor and comedian Russell Brand<\/a> was a \u200cruthless sexual predator who sexually abused six women despite their protestations, prosecutors said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Brand (51), once one \u200cof Britain\u2019s most high-profile broadcasters and former husband of US singer Katy Perry, faces three counts of rape, \u200bthree counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault relating to six women from 1999 to 2009. He denies all the accusations.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I feel blessed,\u201d he said as he arrived \u200bat London\u2019s Southwark Crown Court. \u201cI feel of course concerned but hopeful that this process will lead to \u2060good outcomes for everybody involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Jury selected for trial of Russell BrandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Opening the case against him, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said that \u200cregardless \u200cof \u200bwho the women were or what they said or did, he was not deterred in targeting them.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the women \u2060involved protested and said \u200bno, others had no opportunity to react to \u200bhis advances but it mattered not to the defendant,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis desire, his strong \u200cdesire, for some form of \u200bsexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could be nice when he \u2060wanted to be, funny \u2013 undoubtedly \u2013 charming, \u2060likeable even \u2013 \u200bwhen he wanted something in return.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut then demanding, entitled, a flirt with a huge sexual appetite, child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was ruthless, he was calculating, he was manipulative and, the prosecution say, he was a sexual predator.\u201d<\/p>\n

A woman who says she was raped by Brand claims the comedian apologised for treating her \u201clike an animal\u201d, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Brand (51) allegedly had sex with the woman without consent after meeting her when she was in the audience at a Hammersmith Apollo show in 2009.<\/p>\n

Southwark Crown Court heard she had a threesome with Brand backstage, then had consensual sex with the star at his home in Hampstead, north London.<\/p>\n

But she said Brand then raped her at his home, looked \u201chorrified\u201d afterwards, and then allegedly forced her to \u201cclean up the mess\u201d.<\/p>\n

Karmy-Jones said Brand texted the woman the following year after seeing each other in a chance encounter in Scotland.<\/p>\n

She said she messaged Brand: \u201cWhy are you even messaging me?\u201d, and he replied: \u201cBecause you\u2019re dirty, and I wanna push you further.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court heard she says she replied: \u201cI think you pushed me far enough \u2013 you treated me like an animal\u201d, and she says Brand replied: \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court heard Brand had concluded his 2009 show at the Hammersmith Apollo by telling the audience: \u201cIf you see me out in the foyer and you think \u2018I really fancy him and would like to have sex with him, but I can\u2019t because it is Russell Brand \u2026\u2019 you probably can have sex with me.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy age range is from 16 to death.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the bar afterwards, the woman said she bumped into Brand and kissed him, despite having a boyfriend at the time.<\/p>\n

It is said a member of Brand\u2019s security pointed at the woman and invited her for drinks backstage, and the \u201cstar struck\u201d woman then agreed to a threesome with him and another woman.<\/p>\n

She refused to have full sex with Brand on that occasion, and Karmy-Jones said Brand asked for her phone number and later invited her to his home.<\/p>\n

She claims Brand forced her to shower while he watched, and alleges she was raped after they had consensual sex.<\/p>\n

The court heard she later struggled with an alcohol addiction, and \u201cspent months and years blaming herself for what had happened\u201d.<\/p>\n

The final alleged victim, a Channel 4 worker, accuses Brand of sexual assault as he was filming for a project in 2009.<\/p>\n

Karmy-Jones said while he was filming, he was \u201cfriendly and nice\u201d with children who were present, but became \u201cangry, fed up, and petulant\u201d when they left.<\/p>\n

She said the woman was informed Brand was \u201cunhappy\u201d and the situation would not improve unless she gave him a massage.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said: \u201cShe thought they must be joking but then realised they meant it.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said no, and they said she had to.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is said Brand walked up to a chair the woman was sitting on and placed his head directly into her groin area.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kneeling at the side of her with his forehead on her right thigh and his shoulders pressed against her left thigh\u201d, said Ms Karmy-Jones.<\/p>\n

The alleged victim says she \u201cfroze\u201d, as Brand \u201cpressed his face into her groin area\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he spoke she could feel his breath\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n

When questioned by police, Brand provided a prepared statement saying he had \u201cnever engaged in non-consensual sexual activity, and any accounts had been reinvented or imagined after a defamatory documentary and subsequent press reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brand has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one allegation of indecent assault.<\/p>\n

His trial is expected to last about six weeks.<\/p>\n

The comedian, known for his flamboyant style and \u200cappearance, was a regular on \u2060British television screens in the 2000s and also worked as a radio presenter for the BBC.<\/p>\n

He went on to star in a \u200cnumber of films including \u201cGet Him to the Greek\u201d in 2010, the same year he married Perry. They divorced \u200bin 2012 after 14 months of marriage.<\/p>\n

More recently \u200bBrand has mainly appeared in online broadcasts, with content often focused on US politics, religion and free speech. – Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British actor and comedian Russell Brand was a \u200cruthless sexual predator who sexually abused six women despite their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,109394],"class_list":["post-654549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-russell-brand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}