Brand told jurors he couldn’t find anyone to give evidence on his behalf after ‘devastating’ Dispatches documentary<\/p>\n
Earlier, Brand told the court that he had struggled to find anyone to give evidence on his behalf, saying the consequences of the September 2023 investigation by the Sunday Times, Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches were \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n
His barrister, Ian White, asked: \u201cWere you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to give to come to give evidence on your behalf?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brand said: \u201cI have not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winter asked: \u201cWould they touch you with a barge pole?\u201d<\/p>\n
Brand said: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brand later told the court he did not consider the Dispatches investigation a documentary, saying: \u201cI call it a TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.43 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones is now questioning Brand.<\/p>\n She began by asking: \u201cYou blame Dispatches?\u201d<\/p>\n Brand was momentarily silent, before Karmy-Jones asked him again whether he blamed Dispatches for the allegations.<\/p>\n She then asked Brand: \u201cYou blame the media?\u201d<\/p>\n Brand was again silent, prompting Karmy-Jones to ask \u201cis that a difficult question, Mr Brand?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn some ways,\u201d Brand replied, telling the court that there were different types of media and that he was a part of it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Winter moved on to the final count of sexual assault, involving a woman who said she met Brand while working on a project for Channel 4 in 2009. She alleged he demanded a massage and put his head into her groin area, which Brand denied.<\/p>\n Concluding his questions for Brand, Winter said: \u201cAre you guilty or innocent of these allegations?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m innocent,\u201d Brand said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Brand told the court he invited the woman to his flat where they had consensual sex.<\/p>\n When asked by Winter whether he used a condom, Brand said he did.<\/p>\n He said he generally used condoms \u201cin first sexual encounters, particularly and especially if the partner wants that.\u201d<\/p>\n Winter asked Brand whether they moved on to anal sex, Brand told the court that they did and that the woman said it was her first time.<\/p>\n Winter asked Brand whether the woman expressed any reluctance, to which Brand replied \u201ccoyness, one might say\u201d.<\/p>\n Winter continued: \u201cDid you say anything about seeking to persuade her?\u201d<\/p>\n Brand replied that he did, telling the court he said \u201csomething along the lines of \u2018you\u2019ll love it\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Brand told the court that the woman consented to continuing sex without a condom.<\/p>\n \u201cDid she tell you to stop, or that she didn\u2019t want to proceed in that way?\u201d Winter asked Brand.<\/p>\n He replied: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.12 EDT<\/p>\n Court is back in session.<\/p>\n Winter has now turned to count 6, in which a woman alleged Brand anally raped her in 2009 after watching his comedy gig at Hammersmith Apollo.<\/p>\n Brand told the court that he had a \u201cstriking\u201d and \u201cmemorable\u201d sexual encounter with the woman in a dressing room before the alleged incident. He had saved her number on his phone with the initials \u201cAP\u201d, which he told the court meant \u201canal play\u201d.<\/p>\n Brand told jurors he was \u201cexcited and enthusiastic\u201d about meeting her again.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.55 EDT<\/p>\n Brand told jurors he couldn’t find anyone to give evidence on his behalf after ‘devastating’ Dispatches documentary<\/p>\n Earlier, Brand told the court that he had struggled to find anyone to give evidence on his behalf, saying the consequences of the September 2023 investigation by the Sunday Times, Times, and Channel 4 Dispatches were \u201cdevastating\u201d.<\/p>\n His barrister, Ian White, asked: \u201cWere you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to give to come to give evidence on your behalf?\u201d<\/p>\n Brand said: \u201cI have not.\u201d<\/p>\n Winter asked: \u201cWould they touch you with a barge pole?\u201d<\/p>\n Brand said: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Brand later told the court he did not consider the Dispatches investigation a documentary, saying: \u201cI call it a TV show.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.43 EDT<\/p>\n Winter moved on to count 5, in which a woman alleged Brand sexually assaulted her when she was in her 20s and working at a radio station in 2004 or 2005.<\/p>\n Winter asked Brand whether he \u201csloppily kissed her\u201d.<\/p>\n Brand replied: \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n The court is now taking a short break until 11.45am.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.29 EDT<\/p>\n Winter asked Brand whether there was any question he grabbed the woman\u2019s breast shortly after meeting her, Brand said: \u201cAbsolutely not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not the way I would have behaved \u2013 it\u2019s obviously criminal but it\u2019s obviously vulgar,\u201d Brand told jurors.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Winter then went on to ask Brand about the third and fourth charge of sexual assault and rape, in which a woman alleged Brand grabbed her breasts before pulling her into a toilet at a bar in Soho and orally raped her in 2004.<\/p>\n Brand said he invited her to go into the lavatory to \u201cfool around\u201d. When asked by Winter whether she was happy to do so, he said \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n He described the woman as \u201cwide-eyed, enthusiastic and flirty\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Winter asked Brand about the second count of attempted indecent assault, in which it is alleged he tried to drag a female MTV worker into a toilet in 2001.<\/p>\n Winter asked whether Brand \u201cintended any non-consensual assault, sexual or otherwise\u201d on the woman.<\/p>\n Brand responded: \u201cOf course not.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Brand tells court ‘consent is more important than sex itself’<\/p>\n Winter asked Brand if he got consent from the first alleged complainant when he had sex with her.\n <\/p>\n Brand told the court: \u201cConsent is fundamental, essential, necessary and, indeed, in many ways more important than sex itself.\u201d<\/p>\n He said there was \u201cno question in my mind\u201d that he got consent from the woman \u201cbecause of the talking and the intimacy\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Winter is asking Brand about the first alleged complainant, a woman who alleged she was raped by the comedian after meeting him on the fringes of the Labour party conference in Bournemouth in 1999.<\/p>\n Brand told the court she had invited him to her hotel room, and that he \u201cthought at the bare minimum it\u2019s better than sleeping in shared accommodation\u201d with his team, and that he \u201choped and thought that there was a possibility of sex\u201d.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>‘My entire life has been consumed by these allegations,’ Brand tells court<\/p>\n Brand told the court that around the time of the Channel 4 Dispatches documentary, which reported the allegations as part of an investigation with the Times and the Sunday Times, his baby son had to have open heart surgery at the Great Ormond Street hospital in London.<\/p>\n He told jurors that the hospital refused to let him stay with his son \u201cdue to the materials published\u201d.<\/p>\n Brand said his \u201centire life has been consumed by these allegations\u201d.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI have devoted myself to these matters.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.56 EDT<\/p>\n Brand\u2019s barrister, Ian Winter, began by going through the indictment and asking him if he committed the offences, to which he replied \u201cno\u201d to each.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Brand takes the stand<\/p>\n Shortly after the prosecution concluded its case this morning, Brand took to the stand to give evidence as the defence begins.<\/p>\n