Australian entertainer Rolf Harris found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault – TheLiberal.ie – Our News, Your Views

Australian entertainer Rolf Harris found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault




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Australian entertainer Rolf Harris has been found guilty of 12 counts of indecently assaulting four girls over a period of three decades in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

One of Harris victims was a childhood friend of his daughter, while another was aged between  seven or eight.

The court heard Harris, 84, was a “Jekyll and Hyde” character, who had a dark side to his personality.
Prosecutors said he used his “status and position” to abuse his victims. He will be sentenced on Friday.

The judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, said a custodial term was “uppermost in the court’s mind”, but he wanted to see a medical report before sentencing Mr Harris.

Harris, who was granted bail, was confronted by a mass of photographers and reporters as he left court in the company of his wife Alwen and daughter Bindi, who had both attended most of the trial at Southwark Crown Court.

The central prosecution allegation concerned a friend of Harris’s daughter, whom the court heard he groomed and molested from the age of 13 until she was 19.

The other victims told the court they were touched or groped by Harris, sometimes at his public appearances.

The jury deliberated for 37 hours and 45 minutes before reaching their unanimous verdicts.
Harris was found guilty of all 12 charges he was prosecuted on.

The charges were:
* Count one: A woman said Harris touched her inappropriately when she was just seven or eight while he was signing autographs in Hampshire in the late 1960s

* Count two: Harris was accused of groping a teenage waitress’s bottom at a charity event in Cambridge in the 1970s.

* Counts three to nine: A childhood friend of Mr Harris’ daughter said he repeatedly indecently assaulted her between the ages of 13 and 19, including once when his daughter was asleep in the same room. He admitted a relationship with the woman, but said it began after she turned 18.

* Counts 10 to 12: Australian woman Tonya Lee, who has waived her right to anonymity, said he fondled her three times on one day while she was on a theatre group trip to the UK at the age of 15.

It is understood that Six other women also told the court about indecent assaults Harris had carried out against them in Australia, New Zealand and Malta. The veteran entertainer was not prosecuted over those incidents but the evidence was introduced by the prosecution as an added illustration of his behaviour.

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