Russell Brand has been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison after being convicted of rape and sexual assault in his London criminal trial last week.
He was facing a potential sentence of 19 years to life in prison for the rape conviction. The maximum sentence for sexual assault is 10 years.
In relation to the sexual assaults, Judge Bennathan handed down a sentence of nine months for Count 3, 18 months for Count 5 (reduced from two years) and eight months for Count 7, which would be served concurrently. He also imposed a sentence of nine years imprisonment for the Count 6 charge of rape. The judge said Brand must serve two thirds of the sentence before he can be released on licence.
The former actor and comedian was found guilty Thursday on three counts of sexual assault and one count of rape. He was found not guilty of two other rape charges and a count of attempted indecent assault.
At the sentencing hearing on Monday morning, the women in the case told the judge of the ongoing impact Brand’s crimes had on them. One victim, who was sexually assaulted at a radio station in 2005 (Count 5), said in a statement read by the Crown Prosecution Service’s lawyer the attack had had a “lasting impact” on her life.
The victim of Count 3, who was sexually assaulted in a Soho bar in 2004 said that after the attack it was “impossible to escape seeing him all over the media, being celebrated for his disgusting behaviour against women like it was all a joke,” while the victim of Count 7, who was assaulted by Brand during a shoot for Channel 4 in 2009, said she “lost trust in people and felt that my working environment wasn’t safe” in the aftermath. She also said the incident was “brushed under the carpet by senior management.”
The victim of Brand’s most serious crime, who was anally raped by Brand at his home in Hampstead before he ordered her to change the sheets and had her escorted out by his driver (Count 6), said she feared she had contracted HIV after the encounter. The judge said that Brand removing the condom and ejaculating inside the victim without her consent were aggravating factors in his sentencing decision. “The whole episode reeks of casual disrespect and your belief that fame meant you could act how you liked, when you liked, unhindered by the rules by which decent people live,” said the judge.
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“About 20 years ago, Russell Brand, you were becoming famous,” Judge Bennathan began his sentencing remarks. “You were clever and, in many people’s eyes, funny and charismatic. You had also become a sexual predator.”
Of the radio station sexual assault, in which he forcibly kissed the victim, pushed her against the wall and ran his hands all over her body after encountering her in the corridor, the judge said: “No doubt your companions thought it was outrageous laddish behavior that only you could get away with: It was outrageous and possibly laddish, but also a criminal sexual offence, and as it turns out you haven’t got away with it.”
Brand, who stood as the sentence was handed down, did not react although his wife Laura Gallacher clasped her hands and was supported by friends. Brand’s father Ronald was also in the gallery to watch his son’s sentencing.
Brand’s sentence began on Thursday when he was taken into police custody after the judge refused to grant him conditional bail following the jury’s verdict. As Brand was taken to the cells, he mouthed “I’m OK” and “I’m good” to his lawyers and gave a thumbs-up sign, according to Sky News.
Brand did not visibly react when the verdicts were read out. His wife, Laura Gallacher, rushed out of the courtroom when Brand was taken to the cells to wait before his bail application.
Brand was accused of raping three women at various locations between 1999 and 2009. One of the alleged victims also accused him of sexual assault in addition to oral rape. He was also accused of one count of attempted indecent assault at MTV’s U.K. offices in 2001 and one count of sexual assault in 2009. After the trial concluded, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that he is being investigated on further allegations of rape from two other women.
Allegations against Brand went public in 2023 with a docuseries from the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s “Dispatches.” Before then, he was best known as a comedian and for his roles in films like “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.”
From Variety US