This story contains discussions of rape or sexual assault that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.
As Russell Brand’s sexual assault trial draws to a close, his defence lawyer told the jurors that Brand was not a psychopath. He claimed that the sexual encounters presented in the trial were consensual. The high-profile trial has featured women testifying against Brand and detailing their sexual encounters with him that they consider wildly inappropriate.
Russell Brand’s lawyer argues alleged encounters were consensual during closing statement
According to Variety, defence lawyer Ian Winter KC told the jury to consider that Brand was not abnormal. He said that the evidence did not show that Brand could rape women without being aware of the consequences.
“The fact he behaved normally during and after all of those ‘rapes’ tells you what you need to know. He believed they were all consenting,” Winter argued. “You would have to be a psychopath to be raping someone and asking them if they were enjoying it at the same time.”
Winter also declared that the comedian left his email addresses and photographs with one complainant, and even attempted to kiss her goodbye.
“Rapists do not leave their address,” he told the court. “Rapists do not leave their photographs.”
The defence also challenged the 2023 Channel 4 documentary that accused Brand of rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse. Winter clarified that the documentary was damaging to Brand’s social profile and also encouraged complainants. This, in turn, undermined the fairness of the trial.
“One wonders what her evidence would have been if she’d not seen the program,” he said. Here, he accused the documentary of having influenced one complainant’s claims. He continued, “There is nothing random at all about these people coming forward… They have all come forward because they have been brought at the invitation of that program.”
“They are all, we say, thoroughly contaminated by the program. The very existence of them as complainants is fundamentally corrupted by that program and publicity and [that] renders it fundamentally unfair.”
Brand has pleaded not guilty to three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of attempted indecent assault. The charges concern alleged incidents involving six women between 1999 and 2009.
“Brand is innocent,” Winter concluded.
