The key facts
- MTV woman: Brand changed from 'jovial' to 'wild lunatic' and tried to drag her into a toilet in 2001
- Brand faces seven charges from six women over the period 1999–2009; he denies the allegations
- Former housemate Andrew Dobson: 'sex was a huge obsession' for Brand
MTV woman's testimony
A woman who worked at MTV in 2001 gave evidence on Friday behind a screen at Southwark Crown Court in London on the third day of the trial of Russell Brand. She said she recognised Brand immediately, and there was initially 'banter' between them. According to her, after she complimented his T-shirt reading 'I am Spartacus', Brand offered to give it to her and then asked the way to the toilet. She offered to show him the way, as she was heading in the same direction.
'The demeanour changed'
The witness said that at the toilet door his 'demeanour changed': he 'grabbed her forearm', was 'quite forceful' and tried to drag her inside, saying 'come on'. She said she tried to break free, told him 'what are you doing, are you mad, let go of me', and managed to 'break free' from his grip through her own strength. According to her, the incident itself lasted about 20 seconds. She described how Brand 'went from jovial, good-natured, friendly to suddenly this wild lunatic', and that after it happened she felt 'stunned and confused'.
Why she did not report it at the time
When prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC asked why she did not report it to her employer, the woman replied: 'I was scared... I thought it would be my word against his.' She told two colleagues. She went to the police in 2023 after watching a Channel 4 documentary about Brand, saying she 'felt it was right to come forward'.
Cross-examination
Brand's lawyer Ian Winter KC pointed out that she had not reported Brand until after watching the TV programme: 'Only after you saw the TV programme do you consider that he tried to rape you in the toilet.' The woman replied: 'Why else would you drag someone into a toilet if you were not going to attack them,' and added: 'You don't grab someone by the arm and try to drag them — that is not consensual.' She rejected the suggestion that for 22 years she had not considered what happened an attempted rape.
Former housemate's testimony
Earlier on Friday, Brand's former housemate Andrew Dobson told the jury that 'sex was a huge obsession' for the performer, describing him as 'very bright, very egocentric', 'lively, demanding and persuasive', possibly 'eccentric'. Dobson attended the Labour Party conference in Bournemouth and was writing music for a fringe event involving Brand. He said that on the morning after the alleged rape at a hotel in Bournemouth in 1999, Brand returned to the guest house where members of the troupe were staying, and Dobson recalled a 'very rushed and hurried' atmosphere, 'panic and urgency', as well as a 'sharp change of tone' after a 'fun week'. Under cross-examination it was put to him that in his statement he had written that Brand was one of the few men women 'went crazy' over; Dobson replied: 'He was definitely charismatic.'
Trial context
Brand, 51, is on trial on seven charges — three rapes, three sexual assaults and one indecent assault — based on allegations by six women over the period from 1999 to 2009. He denies all charges and has not pleaded guilty, stating that any sexual contact, if it occurred, was consensual. On Thursday, another woman told the court that Brand raped her in a hotel room in Bournemouth in 1999, describing him as having become 'like a monster' before the alleged rape. The trial continues.
Image source, PA Media
Russell Brand was pictured outside court on Friday as he arrived for the third day of his trial
Image source, Elizabeth Cook/PA Media
