During the trial, his alleged victims said 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
Brand denies all the alleged crimes.
asserted
Brand → deny → crimes
Prosecution’s opening statement
On the trial’s opening day labelled Brand a “ruthless, calculated and manipulative” predator who raped and groped women to satisfy his sexual appetite.
asserted
who → label → appetite
The court heard that Brand was “obsessed” with sex and treated women as a “means to an end”, and that he was “child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met”.
asserted
desire → hear → expectation
Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC said Brand used humour and his “charm” in the constant pursuit of sex.
asserted
Brand → say → sex
She added: “Regardless of who they were and what they said or did, the defendant was not deterred.
asserted
defendant → add → what
He could be nice when he wanted to be – funny, undoubtedly; charming, likeable even – when he wanted something in return.
uncertain
he → want → return
But then demanding, entitled, a flirt with a huge sexual appetite – child-like in his expectation that his every desire should be met.
asserted
desire → meet → expectation
“He was ruthless, he was calculated, and he was manipulative, and the prosecution say – a sexual predator.”
Brand was ‘monster’ during alleged rape at Labour conference
The woman broke down in tears in the witness box as she recalled feeling “shame” and being “dirty” in the aftermath of the encounter.
asserted
she → say → encounter
She told the court: “I did not want sex from him…
asserted
I → tell → him
I couldn’t fight back.”
asserted
I → fight → ?
She said Brand was “camp, friendly and effeminate” when they chatted after his cabaret show, but he turned “monster-like” after she invited him to her hotel room to continue their conversation.
asserted
she → say → conversation
“He just changed suddenly from this… camp, friendly and effeminate to monster-like”, she said.
asserted
she → change → like
“He was big, I felt threatened and he’s half-naked…
asserted
he → feel → ?
I didn’t think at that point his intentions were good.”
asserted
intentions → think → point
The woman said she initially believed Brand was gay, and added she did not feel able to flee when he turned on her.
“I know he raped me, I know I said ‘no, no, I don’t want this’”, she said.
asserted
she → say → this
Asked by reporters if he wanted to say anything, he said: “Due to the circumstances of the day I think it would be inappropriate for me to say anything other than I’m very grateful that today is the day for truth and justice.”
asserted
today → ask → truth
He added that “we are blessed that as of yet we have a system that can accommodate such things”.
asserted
that → add → things
No friends would give evidence in Brand’s 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.”
“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 → continue → material
Brand said he was told “they had to bar my attendance and presence.
asserted
they → say → attendance
“They were unclear about what particular legal reason there was, but that was the reason they gave to my wife Laura and I.”
uncertain
they → be → wife
‘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.
Ms Karmy-Jones asked him: “Do you accept that you were desperate for it and sometimes couldn’t function without it?”
“No,” Brand said.
asserted
Brand → admit → it
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 a 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
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
