Russell Brand found guilty of rape and sexual assaults

A London jury on Thursday, Nov. 5, found British comedian and actor Russell Brand guilty of rape and sexual assault. The judge told him he faces a prison term. Brand, 51, was convicted at Southwark Crown Court of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. The jury acquitted him of two other rape charges and one count of attempted indecent assault, Reuters reported. The charges relate to allegations dating back more than 20 years, according to the Associated Press.reuters.com+1

After the verdicts, Mr Justice Joel Bennathan told the court that "obviously a custodial sentence of some length will result" and said sentencing would take place on Monday, Nov. 9, the PA news agency reported. Deadline reported that Brand was remanded in custody.irishnews.com+1

The verdicts

The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for about eight and a half hours, according to PA. The judge had told them he could accept only unanimous verdicts, AFP reported. Brand was found guilty of raping a 21-year-old fan he met at a 2009 stand-up show at the Hammersmith Apollo. He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a Channel 4 worker in 2009, kissing and groping a Capital Radio worker in a corridor in 2005, and groping an MTV worker at a Soho bar party in 2004, PA reported.afp.com+1

The jury cleared him of raping that MTV worker in a toilet, and of raping a woman he met at a cabaret show on the fringes of the 1999 Labour Party conference in Bournemouth. He was also acquitted of trying to drag another MTV worker into a toilet in 2001 to indecently assault her, according to PA.irishnews.com

A three-week trial

The trial began on Oct. 12 and involved seven charges brought by six women over roughly a decade, LBC reported. The alleged offences took place between 1999 and 2009, as Brand rose to fame as a stand-up comedian and television presenter, according to AFP.lbc.co.uk+1

Prosecutors described Brand as a "ruthless, calculating, manipulative" sexual predator, the AP reported. PA reported that the women told the court Brand used his fame to pursue a goal of having sex with 5,000 women, and sometimes forced them into sexual activity within seconds of meeting them.kfor.com+1

Brand denied every charge. When he testified, he said he had been "obsessed" with sex as a younger man but insisted all of his encounters were consensual, the BBC reported. His defense argued that the incidents were consensual, invented or "re-imagined," according to Reuters. On the witness stand he said the accusations had had a "devastating" impact on his life, the AP reported. His wife, Laura Gallacher, attended court with him throughout.bbc.com+2

Brand is known for the films "Get Him to the Greek" and "Arthur" and was once married to the U.S. singer Katy Perry. Before the jury began deliberating, prosecutor Ms Karmy-Jones had urged jurors to accept that the six complainants told "not an invented truth, not a reimagined truth, but the real truth of what happened to them," LBC reported.reuters.com+1