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Rolf Harris agrees that secret affair shows his darker side Rolf Harris admits secret affair shows his darker side in cross-examination
(about 4 hours later)
Rolf Harris has agreed that the fact he conducted a long-running secret affair with a young friend of his daughter 35 years his junior shows that he has a darker side beneath his amiable showbusiness exterior. Rolf Harris has admitted to a court that the fact he conducted a long-running secret affair with a young friend of his daughter shows his amiable showbusiness exterior conceals a darker private side.
Beginning his prosecution cross-examination at Southwark crown court, Harris also conceded that the way he kept the relationship, which began when the woman was 18, hidden from everyone indicated he was good at hiding this darker aspect of his character. During a morning of rigorous cross-examination at Southwark crown court, the Australian-born entertainer also conceded it was possible he viewed one of his alleged victims in a sexual way when she was 13, while repeatedly denying any sexual contact with the girl, 35 years his junior, until five years later.
Sasha Wass QC, for the prosecution, began by telling Harris that his ability as an entertainer was in no doubt, and his singing and impressions of a wobble board and didgeridoo during Tuesday's first day of evidence had "delighted us to your many talents as an artist". Facing questions from Sasha Wass QC, for the prosecution, Harris confirmed he had kept the relationship from his family and friends for many years.
Wass continued: "But this case, as you know, is not a talent show. This case is about whether, under your friendly and lovable exterior, there is a darker side lurking. You know that, don't you?" Referring to Harris's initial testimony on Tuesday, when he had impersonated a wobble board and briefly sung Jake the Peg, Wass said: "This case, as you know, is not a talent show. This case is about whether, under your friendly and lovable exterior, there is a darker side lurking. You know that, don't you?"
She pressed Harris on whether his private and public faces were different. He replied: "I suppose so."She pressed Harris on whether his private and public faces were different. He replied: "I suppose so."
Wass asked Harris about the fact he kept the relationship, which he says lasted 11 years, secret from his wife and family for so long. She asked: "You are pretty good, Mr Harris, aren't you, at disguising that dark side of your character?" Wass continued: "You are pretty good, Mr Harris, aren't you, at disguising that dark side of your character?"
He replied: "Yes."He replied: "Yes."
The woman, a friend of Harris's daughter, Bindi, has told the court the Australian-born entertainer, now 84, sexually abused her from the age of 13, and that their sexual contact continued intermittently until she was 29. Harris insists the first sexual contact was at 18, beginning when she was staying at his family house. The alleged victim, a friend of Harris's daughter, Bindi, has told the court the entertainer, now 84, sexually abused her from the age of 13, beginning when she was on holiday in the late 1970s. Neither she nor any of the other alleged victims can be named.
Wass asked Harris if the truth was that the case was about child abuse and grooming. He replied: "That's your case." Harris rejected this account of events – at one point he said: "She said all sorts of things which if they weren't so serious would have been laughable" – but agreed he complimented the girl on the holiday about looking good in a bikini.
Questioned about a time in the 1990s when the alleged victim's family confronted him over the alleged abuse, Wass put it to Harris that it never occurred to him he could face police action over accusations he had groped a girl of 13. Wass asked if this constituted a remark with a sexual overtone. Harris replied: "In hindsight, I suppose it is." The barrister pressed the artist and television star on whether he had admired the 13-year-old's body on the holiday. He said: "It's possible, yes."
"I didn't think of that at the time, no," he replied. Pressed by Wass on whether he knew at the time that sexual activity with a child was illegal, Harris said he wasn't clear on the issue then. He said: "I don't think people knew much about that at the time. I don't think so, no." Wass told Harris: "Once we work out that you did see [the alleged victim] in a sexual light on that holiday everything that she says becomes realistic." He responded: "Not as far as I'm concerned, because it never happened."
Harris wrote a letter to the alleged victim's father around that time, apologising to him but insisting the first sexual contact happened when the teenager was 18. Wass asked him: "You were saying that you were untouchable, that no one would believe her, they would believe you?" He answered: "That wasn't what I intended in the letter." The court has heard how many years later, during the 1990s, Harris was confronted by the alleged victim's family after she told them Harris had groped her when she was 13. Questioned about this by Wass, Harris said it never occurred to him then that such allegations could lead to police action.
Harris was asked to describe the relationship, which saw him and the alleged victim have around eight incidents of sexual activity in about 11 years, according to his recollection. He said: "It was a flirtatious thing which developed. They were very isolated occasions." "I didn't think of that at the time, no," he replied. Pressed on whether he knew at the time that sexual activity with a child was illegal, Harris replied: "I don't think people knew much about that at the time. I don't think so, no."
Asked if it was purely sexual, he answered: "Yes, I suppose so." He added: "It stemmed from a feeling of love and friendship as far as I was concerned." The court heard later that Harris at one point in his career made an educational video about child protection with the NSPCC.
Harris, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies 12 counts of indecent assault. The trial continues. Harris told the court that his first sexual experience with the alleged victim happened when she was 18 and staying at his home. Over the next 11 years, he said, they had about six sexual encounters, but barely spoke otherwise.
Wass put it to him: "This wasn't a friendship – she was just there for sex on your account." He replied: "It would seem so."
However, led by Wass through the various allegations he faces – he is charged with 12 indecent assaults on four women, while six other woman make similar claims that are not subject to formal counts – Harris insisted the alleged victims were lying. "They're all making it up," he said.
Asked about the testimony of the main alleged victim's mother, a former family friend of Harris, the entertainer said she must be lying too: "I think she is possibly supporting her daughter's story."
Wass pointed out the similarities between many of the allegations, saying: "It's all a lie, you say, but it's all the same lie."
Harris, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies 12 counts of indecent assault, seven of which relate to his daughter's friend. The other claims cannot be prosecuted because they allegedly happened outside the UK before the date at which offences overseas could be prosecuted in Britain.
The trial continues.