UK comedian Brand tells rape trial 'consent is fundamental' / Photo: Toby Shepheard - AFP
UK comedian Brand tells rape trial 'consent is fundamental'
British comedian and actor Russell Brand told his rape trial on Wednesday he believed consent was "fundamental" to sexual relations, as he gave evidence for the first time.
Brand, who shot to fame in the 2000s as a television and radio presenter with progressive political views, has reinvented himself as a conservative and faith-based guru for millions of social media followers.
The 51-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces, saying "no" loudly when asked by his lawyer if he had committed the three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of attempted indecent assault.
The jury trial at Southwark Crown Court in London opened two weeks ago and has heard allegations from six women covering a period between 1999 and 2009, when the prosecution described Brand as a "sexual predator".
The maximum sentence for rape in Britain is life in prison.
Brand, who became a household name as a presenter on MTV, Channel 4 and the BBC, told the court his entire life has been "consumed by these events, these allegations, these accusations".
He said by 2004 he was "moderately well known" but in 2009, when he began dating pop star Katy Perry, to whom he was briefly married, he experienced "staggering fame".
He made a foray into Hollywood, starring in several hit films.
Now remarried with children and living in Florida, he has gained a new following as a social media influencer with millions of subscribers.
Brand earlier told police he did not remember any of the women, but acknowledged on Wednesday he did remember some events.
- 'Disgusting behaviour' -
He recalled meeting the first complainant, who accused him of raping her in 1999 after a cabaret show in the southern city of Bournemouth during the Labour Party Conference.
He said he found her attractive and "hoped and thought there was at least a possibility of sex".
He insisted she consented to sex, saying there was "absolutely no question at all in my mind".
"Consent is fundamental, essential, necessary and indeed in many ways more important than sex itself," he said.
He said he used a condom, because "that was the way people had sex in 1999".
He denied any memory of the second incident in which a woman said he tried to drag her into a toilet at MTV offices in 2001.
He denied grabbing the breast of another woman in 2004, saying this was "obviously disgusting behaviour".
"If your intention is to charm or seduce women, it's not in that line," he said.
The woman accused him of oral rape in a toilet after they met in a bar.
Brand said they did go into a toilet cubicle, where "it's possible I would have taken my penis out of my trousers" but denied oral sex.
He also denied a charge that he fondled a radio station staff member against her will.
L.Schmitz--BVZ
