Jemima Goldsmith accuses former partner Russell Brand of abuse

One of the former partners of Russell Brand has come forward with her description of the disgraced star’s “violence, coercive control and abuse”, saying that she “had to call the police to have him removed from my house in 2014 during a violent incident”.

Jemima Goldsmith, the daughter of financier Sir James Goldsmith, said that she “chose not to press charges at the time and not to go public with this, as I was worried about the impact of the press attention on my then teenage children”.

On Tuesday, Russell Brand was sentenced to 10 years and 6 months in prison after being found guilty of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault, with Judge Joel Bennathan noting that the former comedian and actor would be likely to serve two thirds of the term in prison. Brand was also permanently placed on the sex offenders’ register.

In her statement, Goldsmith said: “I am and have always been strongly and unequivocally on the side of all of Brand’s victims. I am in awe of the courageous women who came forward at Brand’s trial, told their stories, testified and ensured justice was done.” She went on to describe how she had helped journalists at The Times and Channel 4 who had put the spotlight on Brand’s behaviour and said that she had undertaken to testify in court to his abusiveness, “if the newspaper that published the victims’ accounts were ever to be sued.”

In her statement, Goldsmith also addressed the situation relating to a 2014 injunction against a masseuse, Silvie Berki, which was taken out jointly by her and Brand – her partner at the time.

“I fully understand the good intentions of those now advocating on her behalf online and agree with their demand for this harassment injunction to be varied, as my lawyer made clear to Berki’s lawyer in December last year”, Goldsmith wrote.

She wrote that while she had hired Berki to give Brand a massage, Brand had subsequently decided that he didn’t one, and that Berki was asked to leave. Goldsmith said she had been present the whole time, and that she did not see Brand do anything untoward.

She went on to claim, providing details in a post on social media, that Berki had subsequently “embarked on a campaign of vicious antisemitic and threatening abuse online and in emails.”

As described by barrister Dan Neidle, “Brand (and his then-girlfriend, Jemima Goldsmith) obtained a permanent, life-long, injunction against the woman, Sylvie Berki. Brand/Goldsmith said her accusations amounted to harassment, which caused them “anxiety and distress.

“There wasn’t a full trial, just a summary judgment in which the judge didn’t determine if Ms Berki’s accusations were true, but said she had harassed Brand and Goldsmith Ms Berki had no lawyer.”

Neidle went on to write that “What should have happened was an injunction preventing Ms Berki from harassing Brand/Goldsmith. The injunction goes much, much, further. Ms Berki was forbidden from telling *anyone*. Narrow exceptions: her legal advisers and named doctors. She can’t speak to the police… In substance this wasn’t a harassment injunction at all. It was a libel injunction in disguise.”

In Goldsmith’s statement, she said that “I instructed my lawyer in December last year to approach Ms Berki’s barrister to say that I agreed to vary the injunction so that she could speak to the police again if she wanted to. I also instructed my lawyer to engage on her other requests.”

However, she was notified “that any change to the injunction must also be agreed by Brand.  I have no ability to compel Brand in this matter, as I have not seen or spoken to him in over a decade.”

It is understood that Brand is currently being held at HMP Wandsworth while his security categorisation is being decided, at which point he will likely be transferred to a longer-term facility.