Los Angeles, March 30 (IANS) Actor-comedian Russell Brand‘s rape trial will now start in October. The trial was earlier supposed to be held in June.
In April 2025, he was charged with rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault in relation to four women, reports ‘Deadline’.
In December, London’s Metropolitan Police brought fresh charges of rape and sexual assault against Brand, relating to two more women. Justice Joel Bennathan has now joined the two sets of charges and set a date of October 12 for trial, meaning it can run for around two months, rather than five weeks over the summer, per reports from Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
As per ‘Deadline’, there were also concerns about finding jurors who could sit through the start of the summer holidays.
Brand denies all charges and has welcomed the chance to fight the allegations. “I’m now gonna have the opportunity to defend these charges in court, and I’m incredibly grateful for that”, he said last year. Brand, 50, was not in court for Monday’s hearing.
Among the charges brought against Brand, he stands accused of raping a woman in a hotel room in Bournemouth in 1999, and grabbing a TV worker’s breasts and orally raping her in 2004.
The actor and comedian, who was married to Katy Perry, has reinvented himself as a Christian convert who evangelizes about free speech and free thinking in MAGA America. He saved UK authorities a potential extradition headache by appearing in court in May.
Russell Brand began his career in stand-up comedy and gained prominence as a presenter on UK television and radio. He transitioned to film with roles in ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ and ‘Get Him to the Greek’. He has published books like ‘My Booky Wook’ and ‘Revolution’.
–IANS
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