Woman describes alleged assault by Russell Brand as 'frenzied' and 'violent'

News imageReuters British actor and comedian Russell Brand steps out of a black car at Southwark Crown Court during the second week of his trial on charges of rape and sexual assault involving six women between 1999 and 2009, which he denies. He is wearing sunglasses and a black coat.Reuters
  • Warning - this report contains graphic content

A woman who claims Russell Brand sexually assaulted her has described the alleged attack as "frenzied" and "violent".

Brand, 51, faces seven charges in the trial - three counts of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one of indecent assault.

The allegations, made by six female complainants, span a 10-year period between 1999 and 2009. He denies the charges.

On Tuesday, the jury heard from the fourth complainant in the trial, who alleges Brand sexually assaulted her at the Choice FM radio studios in central London in the mid-2000s.

She said she came out of a small room in the building to find Brand outside.

"He said 'aye aye'," she told the jury, "he grabbed me by my face, started to kiss me, and when he was kissing me he started pushing me - his body against me."

The woman continued: "He was kissing me, it was very frenzied. There was no time for me to even understand what was going on.

"He was running his hands over my body and I had my back against the wall at that point."

From behind a blue screen, the woman described the kiss as "sloppy" and "very, very rough", when asked by the prosecution barrister about the alleged attack.

"His hands at the same time were all over me," she said. "He touched my bum, my breasts, his body was pressed up against me."

The woman said she pushed him off and swore at him.

She said there were several people with him who she claims didn't say anything about what happened after the alleged assault.

The woman - now in her 50s - said she had never met Brand before and that she believed he'd been in the building because he was on Channel 4 show Big Brother's Big Mouth.

She told the jury: "His whole body was pressed against me - the kisses were hard and sloppy and going down my neck.

"His hands were moving so much - the reason I used the word frenzied was because it was violent. He just wasn't stopping."

Said she felt "dirty" after the encounter and "never told anybody", adding: "I felt shocked and stunned, shaken."

When questioned by Brand's barrister on why none of the people who may have seen what happened raised concerns, the woman said: "It was not the present-day environment."

"On the day it happened - and I ask myself this question - why I didn't share it," she said. "It wasn't the culture where something happened to you and you tell people."

Asked by the defence barrister why she did not go to the police, the woman said: "I would have thought about a few things. Who would have believed me?

"I could lose my job and I had a mortgage to pay," she said, adding that she "buried it for so long".

The woman said she came forward with the allegation after watching a documentary on television about the TV star and his alleged behaviour.

Another complainant also gave evidence to the jury - again from behind a blue screen to the right side of the court.

The woman who worked with Brand on a Channel 4 project in 2009, said members of the defendant's team asked her for a massage on his behalf while they were in the same space.

She said after replying no, Brand "came into the room and lay his head into my lap, into my groin area".

When asked by the prosecution counsel where exactly his mouth and nose were, the woman replied "in my vaginal area".

The woman who worked for channel 4 at the time - said she was "so repulsed at the situation". She described him as "bony".

She said she reported the alleged incident to her line manager at the time who then reported it further up the chain.

Brand denies all the charges and has pleaded not guilty.

He has said that any sexual contact if it happened, would have been consensual.

The trial continues.