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Actor Russell Brand has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault in London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday, reported Variety.
The actor formally denied all five charges against him, including one allegation of rape, one allegation of indecent assault, one of oral rape and two further counts of sexual assault, as per the outlet. The alleged incidents relate to four separate women in incidents that occurred between 1999 and 2005. The 49-year-old will now face a trial, which, due to court delay,s won't begin June 3, 2026. Brand was charged by London's Metropolitan Police in early April following an investigation that began in September 2023. According to Variety, the actor first appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on May 2, where the chief magistrate granted him bail and, due to the severity of the allegations, referred the case to London's Central Criminal Court. The venue was later changed to the Crown Court, where Spacey's trial took place two years earlier. After the charges were first brought, Brand -- now living in the U.S. -- took to his social media channels to deny the allegations, as he has since they first arose. "When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, I was a fool, was a fool before I lived in the light of the lord, I was a drug addict, sex addict and an imbecile," he said in a video. "But what I never was a rapist. I've never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes," added the actor as quoted by Variety. The investigation was first launched after the police received several allegations in the wake of a major investigation made by both Channel 4's "Dispatches" documentary series and The Sunday Times. The 2023 expose saw Brand accused of "rape, sexual assaults and emotional abuse." A rep for the show said that "Five women, four of whom asked to remain anonymous, agreed to share their stories of serious sexual allegations in the program," reported Variety. The plea of not guilty at Southwark marks the next chapter for Brand. The actor was a major figure on British TV and radio in the mid-2000s and would later find fame and fortune in the U.S which suffered a eventual downfall with time before the allegations came in place. (ANI)
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