Source : Perth Now news
Comedian Russell Brand faces a lengthy jail term after being convicted in a London court of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three more.
Brand, known for his loquacious manner and flamboyant appearance, had denied all the charges, saying the incidents, which dated back more than 20 years, had either been consensual, reinvented or re-imagined.
Prosecutors had described the 51-year-old, once one of most high-profile broadcasters in the United Kingdom and the former husband of US singer Katy Perry who starred in the films Get Him to the Greek and Arthur, as a ruthless sexual predator.
He was convicted at London’s Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three sexual assaults.
He was acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault.
The jury had deliberated for eight and a half hours.
Judge Joel Bennathan said he would be sentenced on Monday and faced a lengthy prison term.
Brand, who told his wife Laura Gallacher “I love you” after entering the dock, displayed no emotion as the jury delivered its verdicts at the end of a trial that lasted nearly four weeks.
After the verdict, the judge said: “Sit down Mr Brand … just on what happens next given the verdict on count six at least, obviously a custodial sentence of some length will result.”
The judge said the case was “very well prepared,” adding the sentencing hearing would take place on Monday.
Brand loudly replied “yes My Lord” when he was remanded into custody.
Laura Brand was seen to hunch over in the public gallery when Brand was told he faces an inevitable prison term.
She left the court soon after the verdicts were delivered, walking quickly out of the building before getting into a waiting black Mercedes vehicle.
Lawyer Ian Winter made a plea for Brand to be given bail over the weekend as an “act of humanity” so that he could say goodbye to his children but the judge refused over fears that he would flee instead of returning to court.
Brand was refused bail and taken down to the cells.
“I regret the hardship caused to the children, of course,” the judge said.
“But the hardship has been caused by serious criminal offending by their father.”
Prosecutors said the charges, between 1999 and 2009, spanned the years in which Brand rose from performing stand-up comedy in small venues to becoming a television presenter and Hollywood film star.
The court heard tearful and forceful testimony from the six complainants, who are all entitled to lifelong anonymity.
None of the women knew each other but all came forward to police following a TV documentary and press reports in 2023 in which anonymous allegations were made by other women.
The most graphic evidence related to the rape for which he was convicted which took place in 2009, involving a victim who had met Brand after a gig where she had engaged in a sexual encounter in his dressing room.
She recounted how days later she had gone to his home where during consensual sex, he had anally raped her.
Afterwards he had told her to clear up the blood and mess, she said.
He was convicted of sexual assaulting a woman at a London bar in 2004, when the victim said he had approached her at a party and grabbed her breasts.
He was also found guilty over an incident in 2009 when he demanded a woman gave him a massage before he put his head between her legs as they worked on a promotion for a project, taking place in front of two of Brand’s colleagues.
In 2004 or 2005, a woman working for a radio station said he had assaulted her during a frenzied attack in front of his entourage.
In subsequent years, Brand moved away from mainstream TV and film work and built a large social media following as an anti-establishment commentator, discussing politics, spirituality and religion.
He was baptised as a Christian in 2024.
with AP and PA
