Russell Brand‘s defense in his London rape trial was “a lot of half-truths” that were “spun into lies,” the prosecution said on Friday in its closing argument.
Brand has been charged with with three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The case involves six female plaintiffs, all of whom are given automatic lifelong anonymity according to U.K. law, and relates to alleged offenses that occurred between 1999 and 2009.
Beginning her closing argument on Friday, prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC underlined that the women in the case are not seeking “the limelight” or “any kind of publicity,” according to Sky News. As the women claimed in court, she said: “He didn’t listen when I said no, he didn’t listen, he didn’t care … In the rape cases he just kept on going until he achieved his ultimate aim and ejaculated.”
She added that the 2023 documentary detailing allegations against Brand did not cause the women to “recast” their memories of the alleged incidents, but instead made them realize that “they are not alone” so they can “bravely come before you to tell the truth.”
On Thursday, the court heard from Brand’s wife, Laura Gallacher, who called him an “amazing husband” and “wonderful father.” Prosecutor Karmy-Jones said that Brand “may now be a completely different person” due to his “undoubtedly lovely wife,” but pointed out that Gallacher did not know him for the majority of the allegations (they met in 2006). “Any contact was, I believe, sparse,” she said.
The prosecution then ran through each charge once more. Speaking on the first accuser, who alleges Brand raped her at the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, she focused on the defense’s sticking point that the accuser had inconsistencies in remembering what she was wearing that night.
“Ultimately does it really matter? The defense, I’m sure, will tell you it does,” she said, adding that allegedly “being raped” looms larger in the woman’s mind than “the intricacies of outfit changes.”
Turning to Brand, Karmy-Jones said: “The defendant couldn’t really remember anything when he was interviewed, in stark contrast to now when he suddenly seems to remember all sorts of details about the week.” She claimed that Brand has constructed his defense around the details given by his accuser, calling his words “a lot of half-truths, but spun into lies.”
On Wednesday, Brand himself testified for four hours, denying all allegations and telling the jury: “I’m innocent.” However, he admitted that some of his past behavior was “wrong in retrospect.”
“As I became more successful and famous I was very comfortable allowing that to facilitate sexual access, which I agree with you was wrong,” he said. “I do recognize I have been a very determined and focused man … With women — of course, which is the subject of my trial — I’ve been persuasive, seductive, begging and flirting, and dedicated a lot of my life to what seems now beyond reckless, philandering and idiocy.”
Six women have come forward against Brand in the trial. The first complainant alleges he raped her at the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth after asking her to take photos of him half-naked. The second alleged incident involves a woman who was working at MTV in 2001, where she claims Brand grabbed her and tried to pull her into a toilet. The third woman alleges that Brand squeezed her breasts at a party in Soho in 2004 and then orally raped her in a toilet. The fourth allegation occurred at Capital Radio in 2004/2005, where Brand allegedly pushed a woman against a wall and “aggressively” kissed her while grabbing “her body, at her breasts, sides and buttocks,” the prosecution said. The fifth woman alleges that Brand anally raped her in 2009 after they had consensual vaginal sex. The sixth claim comes from a woman who alleges Brand demanded a massage from her while she was on a work assignment in 2009.
The jury is expected to start deliberating a verdict as soon as Tuesday.
