Russell Brand has arrived at London’s Westminster Magistrates Court to face charges of rape, indecent assault and sexual assault by the Metropolitan Police.
Brand arrived to a mass of photographers, wearing sunglasses, an open black shirt and slim-fitting trousers. He remained quiet and looked solemn as he entered the building.
Inside courtroom number 1, he confirmed his name and date of birth before the individual charges were read out.
The first hearing is expected to see the case — given the serious nature of the accusations — referred to the Crown Court for a trial to start at a later date.
The charges, which were brought last month, relate to four separate women and incidents that took place between 1999 and 2005. Among them are the allegations that in 1999 a woman was raped in the Bournemouth area of the U.K., that a woman was indecently assaulted in the Westminster area of London in 2001 and that a woman was orally raped and sexually assaulted in 2004, also in the Westminster area. Between 2004 and 2005, it’s also alleged that a woman was sexually assaulted in the Westminster area. Brand has previously denied allegations against him and stressed all his relationships were consensual.
At the time the charges were brought, the police said they had begun their investigations in late September having received several allegations in the wake of a major expose undertaken by both Channel 4’s “Dispatches” documentary series and the Sunday Times.
Shortly after the news of the charges broke, Brand — who now lives in the U.S. — addressed the allegations in a social media video.
“When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, I was a fool, was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord, I was a drug addict, sex addict and an imbecile,” he said. “But what I never was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
The 2023 expose — which included a 90-minute documentary and article in the Sunday Times — saw Brand accused of “rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse.” A rep for the show said that “five women, four of whom asked to remain anonymous, agreed to share their stories of serious sexual allegations in the program.”
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