Brand in dock for multiple sex offences

Russell Brand, the fifty-one-year-old British entertainer, appeared at London's Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.He faces three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, and one count of indecent assault.

Prosecution describes Brand as predatory

Crown Prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones KC told the court Brand was a ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator. She spent about two hours laying out the prosecution's case on Wednesday morning.

“ruthless, calculated and manipulative sexual predator”

Six women, independent accounts

The alleged victims did not know each other, never met, and came forward independently. Their paths crossed Brand's through employment, social events, work, or attending his gigs over a ten-year period from nineteen ninety-nine.

Assaults in multiple locations

Prosecutor Karmy-Jones told the jury offending took place in a hotel room, workplaces, a toilet cubicle, a bar, and Brand's home address.

Women were means to an end, court told

The prosecutor told the jury Brand's desire for sexual contact was indiscriminate and voracious. Some women protested and said no, others had no opportunity to protest, but it mattered not to him.

“To the defendant, women were simply a means to an end”

Brand's defence: no memory, no consent issue

Brand declined to answer police questions but provided written statements. He claimed he did not remember the alleged incidents, never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity, and his accusers' accounts may have been re-imagined.

Trial expected to last six weeks

The trial before Mr Justice Joel Bennathan is expected to run for at least six weeks.