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A woman who alleges she was raped by Russell Brand at a bar told the authorities”I just closed my eyes and tried not to be there” while the strikewas taking place.
In a 2023 footageinterview with an officer shown to the jury at his trial, the woman statedshe had been speaking to Brand about him hosting the Channel 4 show Big Brother’s Big Mouth when he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges in the trial – three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault.
The allegations, made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009.
The woman told the Southwark Crown Court jury the “lad culture” of the 2000s stopped her from reporting the TV star.
She has accused Brand of grabbing her breasts at the bar in Soho in London in 2004 before dragging her into a toilet and allegedly raping her.
The pair had been attending a birthday party when the alleged incidents happened.
She statedshe waited two decades to come forward to the authoritiesbecause the thought of doing so “terrified” her.
She statedhis celebrity status meant “it would be his word against mine”.
“I would be ostracised in my work environment or friends.”
The complainant worked for MTV at the time and statedshe was often surrounded by famous people.
From behind a blue screen in the witness box she statedtimes had changed.
In those days – she stated- “you weren’t believed as a woman and it was a lad culture of ‘you wearing this, so you were asking for it’ and all that rubbish you were told back then”.
The complainant recalled Brand’s ” majorweird grin” which she compared to the face of a clown as he allegedly launched forward and grabbed hold of her.
Brand’s barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggested during cross examination that Brand and the woman went to the toilet consensually for a “kiss and a cuddle”, but they abandoned the attempt to have a sexual encounter because of the filthy state of the flooded toilet.
The woman, who became tearful while giving evidence, has rejected this version of events.
She statedshe felt “dazed” after the alleged attack.
Pressed on her claim of being dragged into the toilets against her will, the defendant’s barrister suggested it would have been “perfectly easy” for her to have struggled or asked for help.
She statedshe did not agree because he had been holding her quite strongly, saying “part of me was saying just get it over with so you can get out of here”.
She described feeling numb and ashamed afterwards.
She told the jury she had later confided in a friend, telling them Brand had “tried to do it” – but held back from saying he had “succeeded” in raping her.
The woman told the prosecution barrister that she didn’t even k currentlyat the time that the alleged oral strikewould be legally considered as rape.
Earlier on Monday, the jury was shown a 2023 footageinterview with an officer in which the woman statedshe had been speaking to Brand about him hosting the Channel 4 show Big Brother’s Big Mouth when he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
In her recorded interview with police, the woman stated”he literally just grabbed my boobs out of nowhere in the middle of the conversation, just in the middle of a conversation and I just remember this weird maniacal grin, looming in front of me as he just grabbed my boobs”.
A short while later, she statedhe “dragged me in the toilets” where the floor was flooded, before “he unzipped himself” and allegedly orally raped her.
She statedthe alleged rape was “swift”, and left her “in disbelief and shock”.
“The toilets were behind where he stood. It was literally just grab and pull. He was holding me quite strongly on the arm and pulled me in that direction,” she said.
“Part of me was saying just get it over with so you can get out of here”.
“I just closed my eyes and tried not to be there. I just remember it felt like a force. I definitely statedI don’t want to do this,” she added.
After the alleged rape, the woman, who was in her 20s at the time, statedBrand “turned to me and stated’oh I guess we should swap numbers now’, like it was just all normal, like he hadn’t just forced me to do that.”
Brand denies all the charges he faces.
He has statedthat any sexual contact if it happened, would have been consensual.
The trial continues and is expected to last for six weeks.
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