A jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court is weighing the case against Russell Brand, who faces seven charges over allegations by six women dating from 1999 to 2009, the Associated Press reported.
Jurors entered deliberations after a three-week trial. Judge Joel Bennathan told them he would accept a verdict only if all 12 agreed.
Brand, 51, has pleaded not guilty to every charge. Six counts concern rape and sexual assault, divided evenly between the offenses; the seventh alleges attempted indecent assault.
Prosecutors described alleged incidents across work and private settings, naming MTV’s London offices, a radio station, a recording studio, a hotel room, a bar restroom and Brand’s home. On the witness stand, Brand said his past sexual encounters were consensual. He also acknowledged that sex had dominated his attention in his younger years.
Defense lawyer Ian Winter pointed to the years between the alleged incidents and police reports, as well as the intervening 2023 broadcast of anonymous allegations about Brand. In closing, Winter urged jurors to consider whether crimes occurred separately from Brand’s treatment of women.
