Woman was left ‘like a zombie on the bed’ when ‘monster’ Russell Brand raped her, court hears

Russell Brand turned into a ‘monster’ when he stripped naked and raped a woman in a hotel room, a court heard on Thursday.

The ‘snake-like’ actor and comedian is accused of grooming his victim at the Labour Party conference in 1999, behaving like he was the ‘centre of the show’ as he forced her to take photographs of him half naked. In the pictures, the then-24-year-old is seen posing topless, blowing a kiss at the ‘terrified’ woman.

Moments later, Brand is alleged to have pushed the 28-year-old on to a bed and raped her, telling her she’d ‘have to learn to enjoy it’ as she struggled for breath under his crushing weight. 

Six women have accused Brand, 51, of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault, which he denies.

Southwark Crown Court heard that his first alleged victim invited Brand to her hotel room for cup of tea as she mistakenly thought he was ‘gay’ and would not pose a threat when they met at a satirical theatre show hours earlier.

In a police interview played in court, she recalled how the comedian suddenly stripped to the waist and started being ‘silly’, ‘prancing around like an ostrich’, ‘kicking his legs up’ in a manner which resembled the ‘goose steps’ of Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers.

The woman, now in her 50s, told jurors that she was ‘frightened’ when Brand suddenly changed into a ‘monster’ after the pair had spent hours chatting about a theatre production.

Sobbing, she said: ‘He changed from this person who is camp and effeminate and friendly to monster-like.

‘He was half naked. While I was naive, I did not think his intentions were good. He was dark and arrogant and performing. He was scary and demanding. 

‘He was the centre of the show. It was like he was back on stage. He was 100 per cent not that person I was chatting to.’

She went on: ‘He raped me. I said, “No I don’t want this”. I know the words he used back at me.

‘He said, “Let yourself into it, let yourself enjoy it, do not worry about shame and reputation”.

‘I did not want sex with him. I could not fight back. I moved my head away when he stuck his fingers in my mouth. He was a big heavy weight on me, I did not have the physical strength to push him off.’

She added: ‘I felt dirty. I felt like I was choking. It was like him insisting I enjoy something when I did not want it.’

She told police: ‘He was just saying, ‘We’re having fun, it’s fine, it’s all good.

‘This is what abusers do. It was almost like trying to convince me it’s all OK. I’d have to learn to enjoy it.’

Earlier, she had spent the day at the conference meeting celebrities and politicians. That evening, she met Brand for the first time at a fringe theatrical performance he starred in.

She recalled the comedian pulling her ponytail when he approached her after the show.

‘He was very childish, he was very playful – I didn’t feel threatened by him’, she said.

Initially Brand showered her with compliments, telling her she was pretty and clever as they chatted for hours about a play they could stage, she said.

She invited him back to her hotel room to continue their conversation, but became ‘frightened’ when Brand suddenly took his top off and demanded she photograph him.

The woman described Brand as being ‘skinny’ with ‘intense eyes’.

When she questioned Brand after he removed his clothing, he is said to have replied: ‘It’s OK, it’s just how I am, don’t worry. I’m mostly naked at home.’ She told jurors: ‘I was terrified. I did what I thought I had to do in that moment. I had nowhere to run.

‘He is a big guy. Should I have fought him off? He is prancing around with his stupid budgie smugglers on. You suddenly realise, what have I got myself into? I froze.’

She told the court she found Brands body ‘a bit snake-like and disgusting’.

The alleged victim described how Brand suddenly pounced, straddling her on the bed.

He was ‘lizard-like with his tongue which was making me feel sick’.

‘He was really heavy, he was pulling my trousers off, pulling my knickers off… it was painful,’ she said.

The woman said she begged him, ‘Please stop, it hurts’ as she feared he was going to break her ribcage.

‘I could not even breathe,’ she told police, adding: ‘He knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to have sex that night and I was there.’

There were fiery scenes in court as Ian Winter KC, defending Brand, accused the witness of lying about falling ‘under the spell’ of the ‘magnetic’ star.

The judge had to interrupt the defence barrister a number of times to object to the questions put to the alleged victim.

The woman insisted: ‘I did not want a one-night stand. I live a very simple modest celibate life. He is so arrogant that he is God’s gift.’

She told the barrister: ‘I did not go there for sex and I categorically did not want sex with him. He raped me. I may not accurately remember what I wore, what I ate that day, but it happened.’

Moments after the rape Brand is said to have made his excuses to leave, claiming he had to see his mother.

He appeared ‘flippant’, telling her not to worry because he had regular tests for sexually transmitted infections, it was said.

‘He didn’t think he had done anything wrong. I remember him writing down his email. I think he was trying to show me he was a family guy,’ the woman said.

After he left, she locked the door and burst into tears. She described being so distressed that she banged her head on the wall and spent hours cleaning herself.

‘I second-guessed myself,’ she said. ‘Was I somehow to blame for what happened? Was it my fault because I let a man into a hotel room, and that is the way the world is going to look at it?

‘He knew I would not report him. He acted like it was okay to do this. Any decent man knows that is wrong. He acted like he had done nothing.

‘He had violated me, but he acted completely normal.’

The next day the woman was in so much pain she missed a train because she could not lift her suitcase, she said.

The alleged victim said she had spent years blaming herself for the attack and worried that she may have become pregnant.

‘I felt stupid,’ she sobbed. ‘It made me feel so dirty and I thought it was my fault. In those days it was your fault, it was always your fault.’

Later she told friends that Brand had once asked her out.

But she did not contact police until after watching a Channel 4 Dispatches programme in 2023 highlighting allegations against him from several women.

Giving evidence from behind a large screen shielding her from the view of the defendant, the woman said she decided to come forward as she ‘saw how manipulative he was’.

‘I could not watch it all,’ she recalled. ‘He has done this to all of those other women, would it have stopped if I had come forward?

‘I blamed myself in that moment.’

The defendant, wearing a suit and a silver cross around his neck, displayed no emotion.

The trial continues.