GUILTY UK - Rolf Harris for molesting underage girls, child *advertiser censored*, 2013

[Lyra500]

1971:

I think both photographs show hair on the back of his hands. Obviously not conclusive proof, but certainly not ruling him out in the way he suggests.

 

[Ausgirl]

Yeah, I'm not seeing hair there.


"The woman said she remembered the alleged incident taking place around the time of the moon landing, and that Harris had performed Two Little Boys at the event."

So that narrows it down from the original (and very vague) "1968-1970" to "1969" because (from the wiki article on the song):

"In 1969, (the song) was revived by Australian entertainer Rolf Harris, who briefly visited folk musician Ted Egan during a tour of Arnhem Land in Australia. Egan sang him the song, which Harris recorded on tape. Back in the UK, Harris persuaded his television producer to incorporate the song into his BBC variety show. Harris discovered he had lost the tape and rang Egan, 10,000 miles away in Canberra, and asked him to sing the song over the phone. Alan Braden arranged the song for the TV show, and a favourable audience reaction prompted Harris to record and release it as a single. "

Moon landing was July, 1969. So "around the time of the moon landing" might be a month or two in either direction of that.


Rolf appeared on the Liberace show on 15th June 1969, but who knows when it was recorded. Rolf was in Aus that June, filming Walkabout.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0951974/

From the Age article that Tootsie posted earlier, it seems the six week tour during which Rolf's Walkabout was filmed happened from mid-late May to some time in July.

If that "tour of Arnhem Land" on which he first heard Two Little Boys was the same as the Walkabout tour (I think it was), then he would never have played the song anywhere until he was back from Australia.

So when did he leave Aus to return to England in 1969?

I'm sure that info is out there somewhere!

 

[Ausgirl]

Back in Sydney from tour of outback, July 25:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1fxjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2849,8493699

He was still here in August:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=00sQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=eJMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1828,1310244

From Sydney he was returning to England "briefly" and then was heading to Geneva and Sweden for a concert series.


Sid James was at that community center - in 1966.

"1966 - The Greywell Precinct in Leigh Park was opened by the comedian Sid James."

http://www.stauntoninfo.co.uk/67750.html

Three years before Rolf ever heard "Two Little Boys".

 

[Ausgirl]

Diana Dors opened the bingo center in Leigh park in the 70's. No Sid James, no Rolf. All these events happened at different times and locations, it seems, so the witnesses recalling them all together at the community center on the same day might be getting it muddled..

I've seen locals mentioning the Sid James event, no mention at all of Rolf.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

Rolf Harris concedes admiration of bikini-clad 13-year-old may have been sexual

ROLF Harris has conceded his admiration of the bikini of a 13-year-old girl he later allegedly indecently assaulted during a beach holiday may have been a sexual reference to her body, a court has heard.

....

Harris denied he ever assaulted her but said he had during the holiday complimented her on her bikini.

Ms Wass said when he said that it could have meant “you’ve got a great body” as opposed to admiring the material of a couple of small triangles.

“I suppose so,” Harris said.

“And she was 13?” Ms Wass asked.

“Yes.”

http://www.news.com.au/world/rolf-h...have-been-sexual/story-fndir2ev-1226935042193

That reminds me of a creepy guy who used to hang on the fringes of our group in our early 20s, it became a running joke that whenever we were dressed up he used to come up to us and touch the material at the top of our dresses and say 'nice material' which was just an excuse to touch us near our *advertiser censored* .. ugh ..

 

[Supernovae]

Follow the #rolf hashtag on Twitter for live updates.

This is all incredibly bizarre:

[video=twitter;471224279783469056]https://twitter.com/CourtNewsUK/status/471224279783469056"[/video]

This is Jake the Peg:

jake the peg - YouTube

:what:

It brings home how dubious a lot of Rolf Harris' oeuvre can be, on reflection.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

I am disgusted in him, just looked through some of his paintings and I must say I think his corny depiction of our aboriginal people, and using the didgeridoo on stage is just f'ed up. Like seriously?

Everything about him is incredibly CRASS, I can't believe The Queen posed for a portrait with him.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

The Goodies and Rolf Harris in Scatty Safari, I swear I can't help but look for hidden meanings and hints in all this old stuff ..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-1as4GbBLU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDo_jgV5Mz4

 

[Mrs G Norris]

In My Community: Rolf Harris portrait removed from Bassendean council chambers

A PORTRAIT of Rolf Harris has been removed from the Town of Bassendean chambers after residents complained it was inappropriate to have it hung given recent allegations of indecent assault.

http://www.news.com.au/national/wes...council-chambers/story-fnii5thn-1226934938626

This is tacky, picture of the mayor in front of where the portrait previously hung: http://inmycommunity.com.au/news-an...rtrait-removed-from-council-chambers/7660615/

Jumping on bandwagon much?

 

[Ausgirl]

Though there's no report of Bindi having testified yet, it can be inferred from the prosecutions' questions that Rolf's daughter does not support the testimony of her former friend regarding alleged child sex charges:

http://www.news.com.au/world/rolf-h...-sex-trial-hears/story-fndir2ev-1226935473196


Harris admitted to lying about his affairs to police when arrested, saying there were "two attractive ladies" (policewomen, I think..) present in the room and he was embarrassed to speak of such things in front of them.

Still doing yourself no favours at all, eh, Rolf. :facepalm:


I don't like how the headlines are now blaring "Rolf admits lusting for teen victim's body!" and the like, example below where the headline is just wrong:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...in-bikini-youve-got-a-great-body-9445649.html

Which is, I'm, sure, the effect Wass was after, when she hounded Rolf into admitting that the comment "you look nice" did not refer to the fabric of the bikini itself, but to how it looked on the body of the girl in it.

So "You look nice" has now, in the public mind, somehow become "You have a great body", though Wass herself put those words in Rolf's mouth.

I told my daughter's 16yo boyfriend that he "looked nice" in his new band shirt the other day. I was not referring to the fabric of the shirt, but to how the fabric looked nice on his teenaged body (because DUH if he was not -wearing- it on said teenaged body, I would have no reason to say -anything- about it!).

So was that a sexual comment? Omg, anyone tries to tell me it was, I'll be the one calling them a freakin' sicko!

But apply Wass' semantics to it, and I look like a pedo, too. :\

Up there, on the 'oldest prosecution tricks in the book' list, but apparently for good reason. I call it a cheap shot.

I still think Rolf's a filthy old lech who took advantage of the vulnerable women around him and deserves to be tarred and feathered for it. But still - it's a cheap shot. If Wass was confident of her own witnesses (who are looking worse by the day) my guess is, she would not have used it. Or, I'd hope not. How shoddy.

 

[Ausgirl]

https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/23899417/prosecutor-grills-harris-over-affair/

Wass does a better (and way less tacky) job of seeing through Rolf's 'caring' facade to the man he really is when it comes to relationships and his attitude toward women:


Ms Wass claimed the 84-year-old had tailored his entire case around a letter he wrote to the alleged victim's father in 1997 apologising for his behaviour.
"You've given away rather too much in this letter," the prosecutor said, adding it didn't make sense if the pair had had a consensual relationship.
In the letter, previously read out in court, Harris said he'd asked the alleged victim: "Why did you never just say no?"
Ms Wass said that was an odd thing to say "if she was the person throwing herself at you".

Why hadn't the TV presenter stated in the letter that the complainant instigated the sexual encounters, she demanded to know.

---

Good point, actually. Who would ask a sexually aggressive woman 'why did you never say no?'. However - that said - I somehow doubt a man would write in a letter to a former friend, admitting he's had sex with the man's daughter like a dirty old lech, "By the way, she started it" if the point was to make some kind of amends.

Still. "Why did you never say no". It's something to ask a person who was compliant, not an aggressor.

___


Harris on Wednesday admitted the pair "hardly ever spoke", even when they went on a walk near his home and, according to the entertainer, she performed oral sex on him in public.

"Did you treat her as a human being at all?" the prosecutor asked.

"There wasn't a friendship at all," she continued.

"She was just there for sex (even) on your account."

To that Harris admitted: "It would seem so."

_____

Again, Wass pinpoints the problem with fluency in Rolf's story VS Rolf's actions. He's saying it was all mutual, he was seduced by a sexually aggressive young woman and, being a terrible sinner, gave in to her and they then embarked on this 'loving' affair. I don't think it was 'friendly' or 'loving' in the way he wants it seen, at all.

But I tend to believe him when he says it was less than a dozen encounters in 11 years. Rolf and his family moved quite some distance from Bindi's Friend (I'll call her BF) when the girls were still quite young. Given the distance, she could not have had frequent contact with the Harrises over the ensuing years - a couple of visits a year at most.

I also tend to believe that the affair didn't start until the high end of her teenage years. Not 18, though. I think it started a couple years at least prior to that.

However, I seriously doubt the allegations of molestation at 13 as well. I think BF has every reason to want to Rolf to suffer. He used her for casual sex, then dumped her like an old tissue when he found a newer, more handily available substitute. BF does not strike me as the most stable of personalities, and the way she confronted Bindi tends to look a bit vindictive, after Bind mentioned boatshed woman.

Remember, this 'victim' was 29 years old at the time, and had just been replaced, and had been refused a wack of guilt-money to boot.

That said, I think the reality was that BF -was- vulnerable as a young woman, for whatever existing reason, and when Rolf came onto her like an opportunistic old sociopath, she responded. And kept responding, until she was nearly 30, when the opportunity arose.

Rolf's treatment of her was ruthless. Like his treatment of boatshed woman. Like his treatment of his wife who's wrong in the head for staying with him, IMO. And of their poor daughter, who's spent her whole life feeling resentful, embarrassed and overlooked while the rest of the world adored him.

 

[zwiebel]

Daughter Bindi was so angry when her friend informed her of what had happened with her father, she smashed two of his paintings.


'I don't recall her being angry with me in person but I recall her breaking some paintings I had given her so I assumed she was very angry.'

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27617457

 

[zwiebel]

Live updates here but the jury's been sent out while legal discussions take place.

Bindi was so shocked and distressed, she banged her head against the wall too. It's really sad. I feel for her.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/rolf-harris-trial-live-updates-3620197

 

[Supernovae]

Here's some more detail:

https://twitter.com/Janie_Mathews/status/471951515641737216

#Rolf says alleged vic could not have been sat on his lap as she claims because the table was so close to him there was not enough room

https://twitter.com/Janie_Mathews/status/471952067875975169

Wass tells #Rolf 'you are making all of this up' querying how he can remember the table position after 28 years but not the girl

That is an almost unbelievable detail to remember after that length of time.

 

[zwiebel]

Another friend of Bindi's, Lonneke Broadribb, has testified Harris never behaved inappropriately towards her.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-27617457

 

[zwiebel]

Here's some more detail:

https://twitter.com/Janie_Mathews/status/471951515641737216



https://twitter.com/Janie_Mathews/status/471952067875975169



That is an almost unbelievable detail to remember after that length of time.

Gosh, that's a bit of a red flag for me. Along with the fact that (it appears) his daughter never doubted the allegations from her friend. I can't help feeling that if that was a close family member of mine, I'd need to talk to them first, and ask a lot of questions, before I just accepted allegations of sexual abuse.

It gives me the feeling his family had many suspicions, before the allegations came to light??

 

[Ausgirl]

Bindi was already an angry young woman with suspicions her dad had an affair with BF's replacement in the boatshed. Plus, she'd had a gutful of him in general by that time, I'm sure, from what she'd said in various interviews over the years.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

Rolf Harris trial: Entertainer 'groomed, dominated' 13-year-old before abusing her, court told

After repeated questioning, Harris confirmed that very little was ever said during sexual encounters with the complainant - that often he would go into a bedroom where she was sleeping, perform a sex act on her and then leave again without speaking.

^^ WAIT, WHAT??

On one occasion he molested her within metres of his sun-bathing wife and daughter and performed oral sex on her in the same room as other sleeping children, the jury of six men and six women was told.

Wow, he really is doing himself no favours on the stand ..

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-...examination-in-indecent-assault-trial/5484926

 

[Mrs G Norris]

Bit of selective memory hey, and how is this one for a blatant lie?

The barrister focused on Harris's claim that he was too big a star by 1969 to have visited a small community centre near Portsmouth.

That's where one complainant says she was assaulted aged seven or eight.

Ms Wass pointed out that Harris had, however, gone to a small hardware store in NSW in 1991, where he allegedly assaulted another 15-year-old girl.

There's a poster and photographs to prove he was at that promotional event.

The artist responded by claiming Australia was a different country and he wasn't as famous there as in the UK.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...se-of-her-friend/story-e6frg6so-1226936685311

^^ What utter BS!! I mean seriously, talk about manipulative.

 

[Ausgirl]

Not manipulativee at all, if he wasn't there.

He was in Australia, August 7, planning to return to England 'briefly' before jetting off to Geneva. On his return, he went to London to record "Two Little Boys" and some other TV stuff.

Kind of a busy itinerary, that year. He -might- have taken time out to go open a shop in Leigh Park but I cannot find a single mention of it, and neither could the Yewtree squad.

In contrast, while he was in Australia he was touring around tiny little towns in the outback all the time, it was part of what he was doing here. And quite often toured that sort of area, cashing in on the 'outback' thing. And by 1991 (a far cry from 1969) he was not 'all the rage' anymore anyway.

So I don't see manipulation there.