Russell Brand trial hears accuser's family describe her distress
Witness statements at Russell Brand's rape trial describe his accuser as distressed and say she feared she would not be believed; Brand denies all charges.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
The rape trial of Russell Brand at Southwark Crown Court has heard witness statements describing how a woman who accuses him of rape reacted after the alleged attack.
Brand, 51, is on trial over crimes he allegedly committed when he was aged between 24 and 33. He denies all the charges against him. The complainant, known in court as Complainant Five, says Brand raped her at his home in Hampstead, north London, in 2009, a few days after choosing her from the crowd at one of his gigs.
The court heard evidence in person and through statements from multiple friends and colleagues. A friend said she advised the woman to go to the police after she told her about the alleged rape, but the woman did not go because she did not think she would be believed.
The jury heard statements from her father and mother. Both said their daughter had told them about the alleged attack and was very upset afterwards. A former boyfriend said they had spoken about Brand multiple times, and the woman had said: "it was rape and she hated it." A friend who was with the complainant at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival after the alleged rape said Brand texted the alleged victim repeatedly.
Witnesses also described how the woman spoke about Brand. A friend said she called him "business-like, straight to the point and unromantic." Another friend said she described his behaviour as "violent and cold-hearted." A colleague said Brand had been described as "quite aggressive" during the alleged rape and seemed angry with her afterwards.
The court heard how the woman appeared when she told others. A colleague said she looked "terrible, grey, ashen and ill." A friend described her as "extremely distressed, confused and upset." Another colleague said she went "blank behind the eyes" and was distraught.
One friend told the courtroom that she advised the woman to go to the police in 2009, but the woman said she would not be believed. Other witnesses suggested to the woman that what happened was a crime, including her father. In his witness statement, her father said he asked whether she had told Brand to stop and she replied yes, several times. He said he told her: "you've been raped. That is rape."
In the latest evidence, friends and family described how the woman went from being "bright, bubbly, and confident" to suffering from alcoholism and mental health problems. In a police statement read to court, her father said she had recounted telling Brand to stop several times.
The woman and five others came forward to police after a 2023 documentary aired allegations about Brand. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges and the trial continues.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Reported by all 2 channels | ||
| The defendant denies all charges in the case. | ||
| Only on one channel | ||
| A former boyfriend told the court that the woman had described the incident as rape and said she hated it. | Not reported by ITV | |
| A woman alleges Russell Brand raped her at his Hampstead home in 2009 after she was chosen from a gig crowd. | Not reported by Sky News | |
| Statements from Complainant Five's parents said she told them about the alleged attack and was very upset afterwards. | Not reported by ITV | |
| The complainant said she did not report the alleged rape to police because she thought she would not be believed. | Not reported by ITV | |
| The woman and five others went to police after a 2023 documentary aired allegations about Brand. | Not reported by Sky News | |
| The woman's father stated in a witness statement that she told him she asked Brand to stop several times. | Not reported by Sky News | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Sky News led its court item with the evidence from Complainant Five's friends and family. It focused on the police advice the complainant rejected and on Brand's repeated texts, then moved to an unrelated acquittal. The tone was straight news, with no wider commentary on the Brand case.
- “a friend of Complainant Five who said that she advised her friend to go to the police after she told her about the alleged rape”
- “she didn't think she would be believed”
- “Brand texted the alleged victim repeatedly.”
ITV1 gave the fullest account across its evening and late bulletins, building a detailed picture of how the woman described the alleged attack and how she appeared to those she told. It added the father's account that he told her she had been raped and, in the late bulletin, testimony about her decline into alcoholism and mental health problems. The tone was victim-centred but remained anchored to the charges and Brand's denial.
- “business-like, straight to the point and unromantic”
- “you've been raped. That is rape.”
- “bright, bubbly, and confident”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.