By Michael Holden
LONDON, Oct 20 (Reuters) – British actor and comedian Russell Brand anally raped a woman who had willingly gone to his house for consensual sex, ignoring her pleas for him to stop, the accuser told police in an interview played to a London court on Tuesday.
Brand, once one of Britain’s most high-profile broadcasters and the former husband of US singer Katy Perry, is on trial accused of three counts of rape, three of sexual assault and one of indecent assault against six women between 1999 and 2009.
The 51-year-old denies the allegations, and told police after his arrest that he had never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity and the accusers might have re-imagined events.
On Tuesday, Southwark Crown Court heard testimony from the final three accusers.
In a police interview played to the court, one of the women, who said she was a massive fan of the comedian, recounted she had met Brand in 2009 after he “selected” her and a friend in the foyer to go for a drink after they had gone to one of his gigs.
Later, she said she and another woman went back to his dressing room where there was a sexual encounter, but she did not have penetrative sex with him.
After Brand contacted her numerous times over the next week, she said she knowingly and willingly agreed to go to his home to have sex with him.
When she arrived Brand said to her “this is the best decision you’ve ever made”, the woman told police.
She said Brand made her shower because her hair “smelled funny” and brush her teeth, which she said was really weird.
She said they were having sex when he turned her over onto her front and without warning or asking permission, he anally raped her despite her telling him to stop.
ACCUSED SAYS INCIDENT ‘LIVED WITH ME EVER SINCE’
Afterwards, she said he looked horrified and she thought he was going to apologise, but instead he said to her, “you need to clear up the mess” that she had made.
She said she did as he told her, while he watched television briefly, took a phone call and then got up and left the room. Afterwards she told her mother and went to a sexual health clinic for tests, fearing she might have contracted HIV.
“It’s something that has lived with me ever since,” she said during the often tearful police interview. “I blamed myself for years.”
She said she had spoken out as “I don’t want to carry this anymore, I don’t want this to live inside me”.
Earlier, another of the complainants told the court that Brand had molested her at a radio station in 2004 or 2005. She said the alleged assault had been “frenzied” before she managed to push him off.
The sixth woman alleged Brand had assaulted her while she was working at the Channel 4 TV station where they were involved in a recording project. She said she was forced into giving him a massage during which he put his head between her legs.
She said she reported the incident to her line manager at the time.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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