Court told Russell Brand tried to drag woman into toilets

A woman has told Southwark crown court that Russell Brand tried to drag her into a men's toilet for a sexual encounter in 2001, when she was working for MTV, and that she pulled herself free.

Giving evidence from behind a screen on Friday, the woman said the comedian went from being "jovial and friendly" to "this wild-eyed maniac trying to pull me into the toilet". Brand, 51, sat bolt upright in the dock in a dark pinstripe suit as she testified.

Brand faces three charges of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault involving six women, in allegations spanning 10 years from 1999 to 2009. He denies all the charges.

The woman said she met Brand at MTV in 2001, when they joked about an I Am Spartacus T-shirt he was wearing, and that she later offered to show him the way to the toilets, where she says he assaulted her.

She told the court he grabbed her forearm and leaned into the door: "It was quite forceful, the grip. It took me unawares, I wasn't expecting that." She said he pleaded with her to come in — "go on, go on, come in" — and that she had to use her strength to escape a grip she described as "hard". The interaction lasted about 20 seconds.

"I said to him: 'What are you doing? Are you mad? Let me go,'" she told the court.

Why she did not report it at the time

The woman said she told two colleagues what had happened but did not complain to police until she saw a 2023 documentary that accused Brand of sexual misconduct. "It brought everything back," she said. "I thought I'd managed to get away. It could've been very different ... I thought it was the right thing to come forward."

She said she had been "scared" at the time because Brand was famous and "a big asset" to the channel. "It would have been my word against his, I had a job to consider, I emerged relatively unscathed. He didn't manage to rape me. I managed to get myself out of the situation."

Under cross-examination, Brand's barrister, Ian Winter KC, suggested she had reassessed her memory of the incident after the documentary. She said it had not changed her mind, and rejected his suggestion that Brand had "invited" her into the toilet for a consensual sexual encounter. "You don't drag someone by the arm, not in my world anyway," she said. Winter described the incident as "short-lived, very, very minor" and said that after she declined, Brand "left it there". She replied: "The intent was there. It could have been very different."

Earlier evidence

The court also heard evidence from witnesses relating to the first complainant, who gave evidence on Thursday. She alleges Brand raped her after a fringe cabaret show at the 1999 Labour party conference in Bournemouth.

Andrew Dobson, a former flatmate of Brand's who composed the music for the show, described him as "a very vibrant character, very egotistical ... lively, sort of quite demanding and persuading". He said sex was "a huge preoccupation" for Brand. John Rogers, who wrote the show, said Brand appeared "flustered" after an "encounter" with a woman during the week of the conference.

Source: The Guardian World.