Alleged victims say Brand switched suddenly after appearing charming, forced them into sexual activity in a toilet, a hotel room, workplace corridors, and his bedroom and acted as if nothing had happened after the attacks.
asserted
nothing → allege → attacks
No friends would give evidence in his defence
asserted
friends → give → defence
During the trial, Brand told jurors that he could not get any friends or former colleagues to give evidence in his defence, in the wake of being publicly accused of offences against women three years ago.
uncertain
friends → tell → women
His barrister, Ian Winter KC, asked Brand to spell out the effects on his friends and colleagues of being accused of rape and sexual misconduct in reporting by the Sunday Times, The Times, and a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary in September 2023.
asserted
barrister → ask → September
Brand replied: “It was devastating.”
asserted
It → reply → ?
Mr Winter asked: “Were you able to persuade a single person with relevant evidence to come to give evidence on your behalf?”
asserted
you → ask → behalf
Brand replied: “I have not.”
asserted
I → reply → ?
The barrister continued: “Would they touch you with a barge pole?”, and Brand replied: “No.”
asserted
Brand → continue → pole
Blocked from entering Great Ormond Street Hospital
“The reason given by Great Ormond Street Hospital when my son was receiving open heart surgery and subsequent treatment was due to the material published,” he said.
asserted
he → block → material
Brand said he was told “they had to bar my attendance and presence.
asserted
they → say → attendance
‘Obsessed’ with sex but denies goal to bed 5,000 women
Brand told the court he had an obsession with sex as a younger man, but denied setting himself a “goal” to sleep with 5,000 women.
asserted
he → obsess → women
He insisted that he has never forced himself on a woman, telling jurors consent is “non-negotiable” and “more important than sex itself”.
asserted
consent → insist → sex
Mark Pinheiro, a former friend of Brand, had told the trial about the comedian’s techniques for “pulling” women and allegedly revealed an ambition to sleep with 5,000 women.
uncertain
Pinheiro → tell → women
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC asked: “Is it a goal you may have had?”
uncertain
you → ask → ?
Brand replied: “I don’t agree, I don’t recall the conversation you are referring to.”
asserted
you → reply → conversation
He admitted to being “obsessed” with sex in his younger years but denied the extent of the impact on his life.
asserted
He → admit → life
Ms Karmy-Jones asked him: “Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?”
asserted
you → ask → it
“No,” Brand said.
asserted
Brand → say → ?
Turning to Mr Pinheiro’s suggestion he wanted to sleep with 5,000 women, he said: “While I don’t remember, it’s entirely possible it’s the kind of badinage I would have engaged in when I was 24.”
asserted
I → turn → badinage
He added that it would have been a “joke” if he had told Mr Pinheiro he would not leave a situation with a woman without a conquest.
asserted
he → add → conquest
Claims in Brand’s book used against him
It was suggested Brand had pretended to be gay in order to convince the woman he is accused of raping to let him join her in her hotel room.
uncertain
him → use → room
Mr Karmy-Jones produced a page from Brand’s book, My Booky Wook, which had a picture of him aged seven with the caption: “This is the exact moment when I decided to act gay to attract girls.
asserted
I → produce → girls
It took 15 years to produce results.”
asserted
It → take → results
“Is that what you did Mr Brand?
asserted
you → do → what
Pretend to be gay to attract women?,” asked the prosecutor.
asserted
prosecutor → pretend → women
“No,” Brand replied.
asserted
Brand → reply → ?
He then added: “It’s a joke.
asserted
It → add → ?
‘Look at me, I’m a little boy in my garden and 15 years later… I was meeting women’.
asserted
I → look → women
Ms Karmy-Jones read out other extracts from the book, in which Brand had said he “would never have relented until I received my birthright orgasm”.
asserted
I → read → orgasm
In one passage he wrote: “My egotism and the single-mindedness with which I pursued potentially sexual conquests could often make me uneasy company”.
uncertain
me → write → conquests
In another he set out: “Now if I want something – whether it’s a job or a woman – I will determinedly, resolutely, remove anything that’s in the way, until I possess the object of my desire.”
asserted
I → set → desire
In the book, Brand referred to himself as a “fervid, febrile mass of sexual energy” towards the end of sex, adding: “I’ll do anything.
asserted
I → refer → anything
I’m demonically sexy.
asserted
I → ’m → ?
And he said it ends up with him as a “guilty little berk in a sweaty tank top”.
asserted
it → say → top
Ms Karmy-Jones put to Brand that he is “guilty”, and he responded: “Actually not guilty is my plea in every single case.”
asserted
he → put → case
Coded letters by alleged victim’s name in Brand’s phone
He told the court he stored her name in his phone next to the letter T, which he said stood for “tart”.
asserted
he → cod → tart
Asked what he meant by the word he replied: “That was what I used to denote casual hook-ups.”
asserted
I → ask → ups
He also added the letters AP by her name, which he said stood for "anal play", meaning "fooling around with anal sex".
asserted
he → add → sex
He put two asterisks next to the contact as well, which he told the jury meant: “Never, ever forget this individual, this is a memorable encounter.”
asserted
this → put → individual
The Aporia
