Delving into the dark side of Rolf

A court has heard that Rolf Harris' daughter was shocked at hearing abuse allegations against her father.

Cross examined ... Rolf Harris took to the witness stand this week to defend himself against allegations of sexual assault. Source: DailyTelegraph

ROLF Harris is a household name and has been at the forefront of the TV entertainment, art world and music charts for six decades. And when he took to the witness box this week he did not fail to disappoint.

It was no doubt not the stage he had hoped for but an audience was an audience, and Harris regaled in stories of his past from being a national 15-year-old backstroke champion in Australia to when as a young man he moved to London and Earls Court and sang to drunk expats at the Down Under Club each Thursday for 7 pounds a gig.

But then he was signed to BBC and like the telling of his story to the hushed courtroom, Harris' mood lifted in the witness stand. He suddenly became more animated and before the morning session of his trial was over he had sung a verse from Jake the Peg, recreated the way a wobble board works with sounds and hand actions, talked about all his Top 5 hits in Australia, the UK and the US and described the art of successful didgeridoo playing.

"You've delighted us with your many talents as an artist … but this case is not, as you know, a talent show," Prosecutor Sasha Wass QC reminded the defendant.

Then she cut straight to her argument — it was the tale of two sides to the man, a public side and a dark private side.

Court performance ... A drawing by Elizabeth Cook of Rolf Harris in the dock at Southwark Crown Court, London, where he faces charges of alleged indecent assaults on under-age girls. Picture: Elizabeth Cook/PA Wire Source: AAP

Harris, 84, made a number of admissions, that indeed he was pretty good at hiding his darker side, at least as it related to extramarital affairs with women. The admission included one of his alleged victims, who claims she was indecently assaulted and groomed as a sex toy since the age of 13, but Harris says was a consensual 18-year-old woman who pursued him to perform sex acts on him.

The alleged victim claimed she was indecently assaulted as a 13-year-old while on holidays with the Harris family in Hawaii and Australia in 1978, each time Harris allegedly would spit on his fingers then digitally penetrate her.

Harris agreed he had spat on his fingers and digitally penetrated her but said that was only five years later when she turned 18.

To suggest otherwise was laughable.

"She said all sorts of things that if they were not so serious it would have been laughable," Harris told the court.

Family support ... Artist and television personality Rolf Harris arrives at Southwark Crown Court with his daughter Bindi Harris, left, and wife Alwen Hughes. Picture: Ben A. Pruchnie Source: Getty Images

"Do you want to laugh?" Ms Wass asked the defendant, who is facing 12 charges of indecent assault of four women between 1968 and 1986.

He replied no.

But then more admissions.

He told the court that he did compliment the 13-year-old that she looked lovely in her bikini and agreed with Ms Wass that could be construed as "you've got a great body".

"I suppose so," he agreed.

"And she was 13?"

"Yes."

He was then asked whether that could be seen as a sexual comment.

"In hindsight I suppose it is," he replied.

"You admired (alleged victim's) body during that holiday … you admired her sexually during that holiday?"

"It's possible yes."

Public profile ... A promotional picture of Rolf Harris issued during a tour of Australia in 2008. Source: Supplied

He went on to describe what the prosecutors described as an unusual "relationship" with the then 18 year old, with eight sexual encounters between them when on each occasion not a word was spoken. Except on the last occasion, when he prematurely ejaculated and the pair discussed how to wash the sheets so his daughter Bindi, whose house they were staying over in, didn't find out.

Otherwise there was nothing spoken at all. He said the pair had nothing in common, didn't really talk but just performed sex acts on each other whenever an opportunity arose. No-frills sex he called it.

Supportive wife ... Alwen Hughes arrives at Southwark Crown Court. Picture: Ben A. Pruchnie Source: Getty Images

Harris described the first time it happened in great detail when the woman stayed over at his house, ostensibly to visit Bindi, and in the morning he took her cup of tea in bed.

He knocked, there was no answer so he went in with the cup. She was awake and grabbed his elbow and motioned for him to sit. He placed the cup down, sat on the bed and she kicked the doona off her legs to show just her bare calves.

Harris told the court it was clear. It was an "invitation".

"I took it as a sexual advance," he said.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it all seemed very strange."

He touched her leg but nothing happened. A month later, another stay over, another early morning cup of tea delivery.

"My heart I remember was thumping," he said and with his hand pumped his chest for effect. "There was a certain sexual chemistry that was happening between us. The whole thing was exciting, my heart was thumping like mad."

He was asked whether any word was spoken then.

"As far as I remember not a word," he said.

There was a third cup of tea incident and this time he said there may have been "sweet nothings" whispered between the two but he could not be sure. He then revealed they may have kissed but again, before they had oral sex, but he was not sure. It was the first time anyone had ever heard there could have been a kiss between the pair.

"I've not been the whitest of white and pure" ... Australian artist and entertainer Rolf Harris outside court in central London. Picture: BEN STANSALL Source: AFP

Harris gave evidence there were other sexual dalliances. They gave each other oral sex in a laneway near his home but he could not remember how that took place but they were standing and it was at her instigation. She also instigated a sex act while they were driving along a motorway, prompting him to pull over into a breakdown lane. They were in Devon in south of England with his daughter Bindi and as all three sat on the sofa watching TV under a blanket when the woman began to fondle him and he became aroused. But he said it was a really good TV show so Bindi didn't notice. Later that night he stripped naked in his room walked down a short corridor to the alleged victim's room and she was waiting up for him also naked but that was when he prematurely ejaculated. In all there were eight encounters over 11 years and he said he and the woman, 35 years his junior never spoke a single word to each other.

"In moral terms I have not been the whitest of white and pure," Harris admitted, but said all acts were at the instigation of the woman, and only after she turned 18. Her allegation has him bringing her the cups of tea when she was 15 and having sleepovers with Bindi.

Rolf Harris signature on one of his paintings. Source: Supplied

It was all her every time and he said when she turned 29 she threatened to take their affair to the Sunday newspapers unless he gave her 25,000 pounds for her boyfriend's bird sanctuary.

He refused and told the court each weekend he said he would look at the newspapers for the story. He said he was "living in trepidation" and under the Sword of Damocles. No article ever appeared; the woman has always denied making such a threat.

Then Harris perhaps made the most damning admission of all.

He did not tell police the truth on his statement. There were only two sexual encounters he told them. No mention of any involving tea or laneway oral sex. He gave the reasons because there was two "attractive young ladies" in the lawyers' chambers and he was too embarrassed. He deliberately did not tell the truth apparently to save embarrassment.

No doubt Cicero, author of the famous Sword of Damocles, could create a parable about all of this.

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