Russell Brand rape trial begins in UK court

A "ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator". That is how the Crown Prosecutor has described British entertainer Russell Brand in her opening address at his trial for multiple sex offences on Wednesday.

For almost two decades, Brand was a stand-up comedian, popular TV and radio presenter, and eventually, a Hollywood movie star.

The 51-year-old is now in the dock at London's Southwark Crown Court, accused of three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault relating to six women over a 10-year period from 1999. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven charges.

Barrister Riel Karmy-Jones KC spent about two hours laying out the prosecution's case against the world-famous defendant on Wednesday morning, local time.

She told the court the women who will give evidence during the trial "did not know each other, have never met each other, and came forward independently of each other".

"Their paths all crossed the defendant's either through their employment, social events through work, or through attending gigs where he was performing," she said.

Ms Karmy-Jones told the jury of eight men and four women that each of the alleged victims' experiences occurred when Brand's career "was beginning to flourish".

She told the court Brand had met the women in different settings; one at a political conference, three in various media-industry settings (including radio stations), one at a London bar and one in the foyer of a venue where he was performing.

"Offending took place in a number of locations: a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle, in a bar, and at his home address," Ms Karmy-Jones told the court.

"Some of the women involved protested and said no, others had no opportunity to protest, but it mattered not to the defendant.

"Regardless of who they were and what they said or did, Russell Brand was not deterred. His desire, his strong desire, for some form of sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious."

The Crown Prosecutor told the jury graphic details of the alleged sexual assaults the "demanding" and "entitled" Brand had inflicted on women who were left feeling "stupid" and "ashamed".

"To the defendant, women were simply a means to an end," Ms Karmy-Jones told the court, pointing out Brand was a much-younger man at the time of his alleged crimes.

"Over the years he may have changed both physically and as a person, however, despite that passage of time, his responsibility for wrongs done, and crimes committed at a younger age remain," she told the court.

The court heard Brand had declined to answer questions when police interviewed him about the allegations, but did provide written statements.

In these statements, Ms Karmy-Jones told the court, Brand claimed he did not remember the alleged incidents, had never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity, and that his accusers' accounts may have been "re-imagined".

The first prosecution witness called was Mark Pinheiro, who performed with Brand in cabaret shows on the sidelines of the 1999 Labour Party Conference, at which the first alleged victim claims she was raped.

Pinheiro told the court that in the car on the way from London to Bournemouth — where the conference was held — Brand had said "he hoped one day he would have slept with 5,000 girls".

Pinheiro also told the court several months after the conference, Brand told him he had sex with a woman while they were in Bournemouth and that "things got a little bit heated and a little bit out of hand".

During cross examination, Brand's barrister Ian Winter KC challenged Pinhero's evidence as inconsistent.

The trial before Mr Justice Joel Bennathan is expected to run for at least six weeks. Mr Brand's barrister Ian Winter KC will have the chance to set out the defence case later in the trial, which is the subject of significant global interest.

During proceedings Brand sat up straight in the dock and listened intently to what was being said.

Earlier, as he arrived for his trial with is wife Laura Gallacher, Brand told reporters he felt "blessed".

"I feel, of course, concerned but hopeful that this process will lead to good outcomes for everybody involved, that's my prayer," Brand said outside Southwark Crown Court.

The trial continues.