Woman tells court Russell Brand raped her despite her screams
A woman told her mother that actor Russell Brand raped her and did not stop even when she screamed out in pain, Southwark Crown Court has heard. The Guardian reported the evidence on 22 October 2026.
The court heard that the woman also told a colleague she was bleeding everywhere, and that Brand shouted: "Look what you've done to my fucking sheets."
The woman's mother said in a statement that her daughter told her he forced anal sex on her and did not stop when she screamed and asked him to stop. The woman's father said his daughter told him she had asked Brand to stop several times, and that he told her: "You have been raped, that's rape."
The court heard that the woman told her parents, friends, her boyfriend and a sexual health nurse about the alleged attack. Several people encouraged her to go to the police, but she feared she would not be believed.
The allegations centre on an encounter in early 2009. The woman alleges that after Brand picked her out of a crowd at a stand-up show at the Hammersmith Apollo in west London, she went to his townhouse in London. She says the two first had consensual vaginal sex, and that he then turned her over and raped her. The court heard from 24 witnesses connected to her.
Brand, who is 51, denies all the charges against him and has pleaded not guilty.
The Crown Prosecution Service, the public body that decides whether to bring criminal charges in England and Wales, authorised charges against Brand in April 2025. It authorised further charges in December 2025. The case now includes three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault, involving six women. The allegations span a decade, beginning in 1999.
The trial began in October. Jury selection took place on 12 October, the same day Brand appeared in a London court for the opening of the trial on rape and sexual assault charges.
