The woman, who was working for MTV at the time, gave evidence from behind a screen on Friday. She said she met Brand in 2001 and exchanged banter about an "I Am Spartacus" T-shirt he was wearing, before offering to show him the way to the toilets, where the alleged assault took place.
"His demeanour changed. He grabbed my forearm and he was leaning into the door. It was quite forceful, the grip. It took me unawares, I wasn't expecting that," she told the court.
She said Brand began pleading with her to come into the toilets as she tried to get away. "This person went from someone jovial and friendly to suddenly turning into this wild-eyed maniac trying to pull me into the toilet," she said. The interaction lasted about 20 seconds before she used her strength to escape his "hard" grip. "I emerged relatively unscathed. He didn't manage to rape me," she added.
The woman said she told two colleagues what had happened but did not make a police complaint until she saw a 2023 documentary that accused Brand of sexual misconduct. "It brought everything back," she said. "I thought I'd managed to get away. It could've been very different... I thought it was the right thing to come forward."
She said she had not reported the incident at the time because she was "scared" as Brand was famous "and a big asset" to the TV channel.
In cross-examination, defence barrister Ian Winter KC suggested the woman had reassessed her memory of the incident after watching the documentary, and that Brand had "invited" her into the toilet for a consensual encounter. She rejected the suggestion. "You don't drag someone by the arm, not in my world anyway. You don't grip someone to drag them in, that's not consensual," she told the court.
Winter described the alleged incident as "a short-lived, very, very minor incident" after which Brand "left it there". The woman replied: "The intent was there. It could have been very different."
Earlier, the court heard from Andrew Dobson, a former flatmate of Brand's who composed music for a fringe cabaret show at the 1999 Labour party conference in Bournemouth. The first complainant alleges Brand raped her after that show. Dobson described Brand as "a very vibrant character, very egotistical", adding: "I think sex was a huge preoccupation for him."