Russell Brand Is “Not a Psychopath Who Rapes People and Thinks It’s Normal,” Says Defense in Trial’s Closing Arguments

Russell Brand’s defense lawyers have implored the jury to consider the fact that his accusers did not “resist, scream or try to leave” the attacks they’ve alleged in his ongoing rape and sexual assault trial.

The presenter and comedian is accused of three counts of rape and three charges of sexual assault. He was initially accused of indecent assault, which was reduced to a count of attempted indecent assault by the judge last week. Six women allege offenses dating from 1999 to 2009, and Brand denies the allegations vehemently. He’s been accompanied to court most days by his wife, Laura, who gave evidence last week and described Brand as a “caring and kind, wonderful father” to their three children. Brand also told the court he had not persuaded anyone to testify on his behalf.

The trial is now entering its final stages. On Friday, the prosecution presented its closing arguments to the jury — comprised of eight men and four women — at Southwark Crown Court, telling them that Brand’s defense is “a lot of half-truths, but spun into lies.” Lead prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said that these six women do not know each other. None of them “sought the limelight” or “any kind of publicity,” she said. “None of these women has anything to gain — except perhaps some closure.”

She urged the jury: “Listen to their accounts, how many said he was nice, then there was a personality change, a pivot.” She said these women have told the court: “[Brand] 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.”

On Monday, Brand’s lead defense lawyer, Ian Winter, made his closing arguments. He told them of the “devastating impact” of Channel 4’s Dispatches documentary, in which rape and sexual assault allegations against Brand first came to light and kick-started a police investigation in 2023. According to Sky News‘ live coverage of the trial, Winter said: “There is nothing random at all about these people coming forward… They have all come forward because they have been brought at the invitation of that program.” Winter said Channel 4 and Sunday Times journalists “poisoned the well of justice” by prompting these women to speak up.

Winter also argued that it’s “quite surprising” that none of the women who said they were raped by Brand brought that complaint to the defendant himself. None of the accusers, he continued, “resisted or screamed or even tried to leave.”

And Brand, he said to the jury, is very “open” about his promiscuous lifestyle. Winter said: “Living a highly promiscuous life is entirely lawful however morally distasteful you may find it… Even being manipulative in the pursuit of consensual sex is completely lawful.” He added that Brand was “seeking approval” and “seeking adoration.”

Winter said that Brand’s behavior after the alleged attacks shows that he believed the women were consenting. The defense argued that there is no evidence that “Brand is some kind of psychopath who rapes people and thinks it’s normal… The fact he behaved normally during and after all of those ‘rapes’ tells you what you need to know.”

The court has heard from all six complainants, one of whom says she was raped by Brand in a Bournemouth hotel room after the Labour Party conference in 1999. Another alleges Brand pulled her into a nearby toilet and orally raped her at a bar in Soho in 2004 and a separate accuser says she was anally raped by the star at his Hampstead home in 2009, after the two had consensual vaginal sex. Brand is also said to have attempted to drag an MTV colleague into a bathroom at work in 2001, and exposed himself while traveling with a complainant in a car, telling her to “suck it.”

Over the last three weeks, the jury has watched police interviews with all of the complainants, whose identities have been kept anonymous during the trial. Their testimonies have been cross-examined, witnesses — including Brand’s former personal assistant, Helen Berger — have been called to the stand, and Brand himself gave evidence too.

The judge has told the jury that they must reach a unanimous verdict on all seven charges.