Russell Brand Trial Hears Rape Allegation and Account of MTV Incident

Russell Brand appeared in a London court on October 12 for his rape and sexual assault trial, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. The case concerns allegations involving six women and incidents between 1999 and 2009, CNA reported.

Brand has pleaded not guilty to three charges of rape, three counts of sexual assault and one allegation of indecent assault, according to the Express & Star. He maintains that the sexual contact was consensual, Fanpage reported.

On October 13, a jury of eight men and four women was sworn in at Southwark Crown Court, GB News reported. The Sydney Morning Herald said proceedings were expected to take up to ten weeks.

Prosecutors opened their case on October 14. A prosecutor described Brand as a "ruthless" sexual predator and alleged that he assaulted six women over a decade, according to NBC News. Those descriptions are prosecution allegations, not findings by the jury.

On October 15, the first complainant detailed an alleged rape at the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth, Variety reported. She alleged that Brand raped her in her hotel room after asking her to photograph him in his underwear, according to Deadline.

The court heard her recorded police interview, in which she described fearing she had become pregnant after the alleged rape, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Photographs she took of Brand that night were also presented in court, TMZ reported.

On October 16, a second complainant alleged that Brand tried to pull her into a bathroom at MTV's London offices. She described him as a "wild-eyed maniac," according to Variety. Deadline reported that she argued he intended to assault her.

Also on October 16, Brand's former flatmate Andrew Dobson told the jury that "sex was a huge preoccupation" for Brand, the BBC reported.

The trial remains underway at Southwark Crown Court. The latest coverage concerns the second complainant's account of the alleged MTV incident, rather than a verdict, according to Variety.

Brand denies all the allegations. His position is that sexual contact was consensual, and he has suggested that his accusers reinterpreted encounters after seeing media reports about alleged misconduct, the Daily Mail reported.

Further evidence and the defence's examination of the allegations remain central to the proceedings. The trial was expected to take up to ten weeks, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, leaving the jury's assessment of the seven charges still pending.