Russell Brand took the stand at his criminal trial in London on Wednesday, denying all charges against him and explaining that he had been unable to persuade anyone to testify on his behalf.
His lawyer, Ian Winter, was called by KC as the first witness as his defense began preparing the case, according to Sky News. Winter began by asking Brand if he committed each of the crimes alleged in the case, to which Brand repeatedly answered “No.” He was later questioned about his fame in the mid-2000s, and Brand said his marriage to Katy Perry in 2010 brought “shattering fame”.
He later explained that not a single person with relevant information agreed to testify on his behalf at the hearing. “My whole life has been surrounded by these allegations,” he told Southwark Crown Court. “I am committed to these issues.”
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Bennathan reduced one of Brand’s seven charges from indecent assault to attempted indecent assault, telling jurors there was “insufficient evidence” of an alleged incident involving an MTV employee in 2001. He was also accused of three counts of rape and three counts of sexual assault, all of which he denied. The case involves six female plaintiffs, all of whom are automatically granted lifetime anonymity under UK law, and concerns crimes alleged to have occurred between 1999 and 2009.
Brand told reporters outside Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday (via Sky News): “Given the circumstances today, I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to say anything other than ‘I’m very grateful that today is a day for truth and justice and we’re very lucky to have a system that can accommodate these things.’
The prosecution has made its case over the last two weeks. In her opening statement, Riel Karmy-Jones KC detailed every accusation against Brand, describing Brand as “ruthless and calculating” and having an “indiscriminate and insatiable” desire for sexual intercourse. The first complainant alleges he raped her after asking her to take semi-nude photographs of herself at a Labor Party conference in Bournemouth in 1999. The second alleged incident occurred in 2001, when a woman who worked for MTV claimed that Brand grabbed her and tried to pull her into the bathroom. The third woman alleges that Brand squeezed her breasts at a party in Soho in 2004 and then verbally raped her in the toilet. The prosecution said the fourth allegation occurred at Capital Radio in 2004/2005, where Brand allegedly pushed a woman against a wall and grabbed her “by the breasts, sides and hips” while kissing her “aggressively”. The fifth woman alleges Brand raped her anally in 2009 after consensual vaginal sex. The sixth allegation comes from a woman who claims Brand requested a massage from her while on a work assignment in 2009.
The hearing will continue on Thursday.