(Zero Hedge)—Comedian and actor Russell Brand was sentenced to nine years in prison on Monday for rape and sexual assault in a UK courtroom. The total sentence is 10 years and six months.
A jury convicted Brand on Thursday of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and acquitted him of two other rape counts and one count of attempted indecent assault. He has denied all the charges.
“About 20 years ago, Russell Brand, you were becoming famous. You were clever – and in many people’s eyes, funny and charismatic. You had also become a sexual predator,” said Judge Joel Bennathan shortly before sentencing. “Your status protected you until 2023 when journalists published allegations.”
Bennathan then relayed the sexual assaults Brand committed against the women – starting with attacks on one woman in a London pub where he groped the breast of a fellow party attendee.
“The effect on her had her wandering the streets of London, phoning a friend in the middle of the night, tearful and distressed,” he said, before detailing another assault in which Brand, visiting a radio station with an entourage, launched himself at a woman – groping and kissing her in front of her colleagues.
Prosecutor Karmy-Jones KC asked for the most serious sentencing category for the rape, which carries a starting point of 12 years and a range of 10 to 15. She told the court Brand “abused the influence and power that came with his fame” and “used it to facilitate an access to women without which the offending could not have taken place.” She asked for one to four years on each of the three sexual assault counts.
The rape victim was 21 when it happened, Karmy-Jones said, and Brand knew she idolized him. He pursued her by text and phone call, offered advice on her relationship with her boyfriend, then told her he would look out for her when the couple split, before the assault at his home. “The court will wish to consider whether this introduces an element of abuse, of trust and manipulation,” she said. The woman feared for months afterward that she had contracted HIV, the prosecutor said, and Brand sent her messages calling her “dirty.” She also told the court that he must “bear some responsibility for the culture of tolerance that existed around him” that let his offending continue for years.
The woman told the court in a victim impact statement that she gave up her plan to become a stand-up comedian and drank more to “block out my feelings and memories.” “His public profile meant he remained present in my life even when I wanted to move on,” she said, adding that she did not report him sooner because “I felt that if I reported him, I would not be believed. His fame, wealth and influence created a power imbalance which made me feel powerless.” Karmy-Jones read three victim statements in all. One woman, who read hers aloud to the judge, said she had carried “that undeserved feeling of shame” for 20 years.
Brand’s lawyer, Ian Winter KC, argued that the offense belonged between sentencing categories two and three. He told the judge the woman had gone to Brand’s home for consensual sex and that Brand “did not respect her consent in two areas,” moving to anal sex and removing the condom, and said that “there was no planning, no premeditation.” Winter said that afterward Brand telling her she was dirty and having her clean the sheets did not make the crime more serious.
Winter called the offenses “isolated incidents” from 17 years ago and said Brand has been a changed man since 2015. He said the last offense came shortly before Brand met his first wife, the singer Katy Perry. Brand is “not the monster portrayed outside this courtroom,” Winter said, and a jail term would have a “catastrophic” effect on his wife, Laura, and their young children. He said many people had come forward to speak of Brand’s good deeds, but none wanted to go on the record. “We invite mercy,” he told the judge.
The judge agreed with the prosecution that Brand’s fame magnified the victims’ pain, because they kept seeing him in the media, and that several of the women worked in his industry, which made him harder to escape. Judge Bennathan said after the verdict that a “significant custodial term” is inevitable. Brand was denied bail and has been in custody since Thursday. As we reported, his first night included a strip search and a round-the-clock watch. Police are investigating rape allegations from two more women, and Brand could face further charges, the Guardian reported.
