LONDON (AP) — Actor and comic Russell Model pleaded not responsible in a London courtroom Friday to rape and sexual assault expenses involving 4 ladies relationship again greater than 25 years.
Model, who turns 50 subsequent week, denied two counts of rape, two counts of sexual assault and one rely of indecent assault. He stated “not guilty” after every cost was learn in Southwark Crown Court docket.
His trial was scheduled for June 3, 2026 and is predicted to final 4 to 5 weeks.
Prosecutors stated that the offenses passed off between 1999 and 2005 — one within the English seaside city of Bournemouth and the opposite three in London.
Model didn’t converse to reporters as he arrived at courtroom carrying darkish sun shades, a swimsuit jacket, a black collared shirt open beneath his chest and black denims. In his proper hand, he clutched a duplicate of the “The Valley of Vision,” a set of Puritan prayers.
The “Get Him To The Greek” actor recognized for risqué stand-up routines, battles with medication and alcohol, has dropped out of the mainstream media in recent times and constructed a big following on-line with movies mixing wellness and conspiracy theories, in addition to discussing faith.
Wiktor Szymanowicz by way of Getty Photos
On a five-minute prayer video he posted Monday on social media, Model wrote: “Jesus, thank you for saving my life.”
When the fees have been introduced final month, he stated that he welcomed the chance to show his innocence.
“I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord,” he stated in a social media video. “I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. But what I never was was a rapist. I’ve never engaged in nonconsensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.”
Model is accused of raping a lady at a lodge room in Bournemouth when she attended a 1999 Labour Social gathering convention and met him at an occasion the place he was performing. The girl alleged that Model stripped whereas she was within the toilet and when she returned to the room he pushed her on the mattress, eliminated her underwear and raped her.
A second lady stated that Model grabbed her forearm and tried to pull her right into a males’s bathroom at a tv station in London in 2001.
The third accuser was a tv worker who met Model at a party in a bar in 2004, the place he allegedly grabbed her breasts earlier than pulling her into a rest room and forcing her to carry out oral intercourse.
The ultimate accuser labored at a radio station and met Model whereas he was engaged on a spin-off of the “Big Brother” actuality tv program between 2004 and 2005. She stated Model grabbed her by the face with each arms, pushed her in opposition to a wall and kissed her earlier than groping her breasts and buttocks.
The Related Press doesn’t identify victims of alleged sexual violence, and British regulation protects their id from the media for all times.
