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Rolf Harris trial told he 'aggressively groped' girl, eight, at autograph signing
Rolf Harris trial told he 'aggressively groped' girl, eight, at autograph signing
(about 4 hours later)
Rolf Harris "aggressively and forcefully" groped a young girl of seven or eight, twice putting his hand between her legs after signing an autograph for her, a court has heard.
Rolf Harris "aggressively and forcefully" groped a girl of seven or eight, twice putting his hand between her legs after she had queued for his autograph, a court has heard.
The alleged victim, now in her early 50s, said the incident at a public appearance by the entertainer, affected her for life.
The alleged victim, now in her early 50s, said the assault happened after she went to see the entertainer perform his pop hit Two Little Boys at a community centre in the late 1960s.
She told the court that after Harris groped her she backed away, throwing the newly-signed autograph on to the floor. Asked how she felt at the time, the woman, choking back tears, said: "Different. I wasn't the same child."
The assault changed her life, she said, choking back tears: "I wasn't the same child."
She added: "My life changed that day."
The court also heard from a woman who said Harris groped her bottom at another celebrity event, when she was 13 or 14. She happened upon the Australian-born star entertaining a group of people by getting on all fours to bark at a dog, she told Southwark crown court. Also close to tears, the woman said Harris put his arm around her shoulder before gripping her buttock several times.
The court also heard from another woman who said the TV star and artist groped her bottom at a celebrity event when she was 13 or 14, saying the incident left her extremely embarrassed and wanting to "pretend it hadn't happened".
The first alleged victim said she encountered Harris in Portsmouth somewhere around her eighth birthday. After watching him sing, she queued for his autograph. Harris crouched down and signed his name, she said, leaning closely towards her.
Answering questions from Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting, the first woman, in relation to the allegations near the time of her eighth birthday, told Southwark crown court she went to a leisure centre in Portsmouth in the late 1960s on a Saturday morning, where Harris was singing his pop hit Two Little Boys and signing autographs.
Then, she said, she felt Harris touch her: "He was looking at me, smiling, and I was smiling back, excited, and out of nowhere his hand came down my back and between my legs."
The woman, giving evidence behind a screen, said she joined a the queue for the autographs, clutching a piece of paper rather than an autograph book. When she reached the front Harris crouched down, asked her name and asked what she wanted him to write.
Answering questions from Sasha Wass QC, prosecuting, the woman said she initially did not know if the act was deliberate: "I couldn't process it. Something like that had never happened to me before. He seemed such a nice man I thought it might have been an accident."
She said: "He was very, very close, he was leaning into me. I thought he was being accommodating for a small child."
Then, she said, Harris touched her again: "More or less instantly the hand was back … straight between my legs, quite aggressively and forcefully, and it didn't matter if it was going to hurt me. It was quite aggressive. I knew then it wasn't an accident."
After he signed, the woman said, she felt Harris touch her: "He was looking at me, smiling, and I was smiling back, excited, and out of nowhere his hand came down my back and between my legs."
Asked by Wass how she felt at that moment, the woman said: "Scared, I think I went into some sort of moment where you are out of your body and thinking, 'Whoa, I need to get away.'"
Initially, she told the court, she wasn't sure what had happened: "It was very quick. So quick that I thought to myself: 'What's just happened?'"
With a shaking voice, the woman said she then backed away. "I wanted to scream out, 'What are you doing?', but it didn't come out."
The woman said she could not be sure then it was deliberate: "I couldn't process it. Something like that had never happened to me before. He seemed such a nice man I thought it might have been an accident."
Then, the woman told the court, Harris touched her again.
She said: "More or less instantly the hand was back … straight between my legs, quite aggressively and forcefully, and it didn't matter if it was going to hurt me. It was quite aggressive. I knew then it wasn't an accident."
Asked by Wass how she felt at the at moment, the woman said: "Scared, I think I went into some sort of moment where you are out of your body and thinking: 'Whoa, I need to get away.'"
With a shaking voice, the woman said she was "quite a naive child" but nonetheless knew what had happened was wrong.
She said she backed away, saying: "I wanted to scream out: 'What are you doing?' but it didn't come out."
She added: "I didn't know how to put it into words. He scared me because he was looking at me all the time. His eyes were fixed."
She added: "I didn't know how to put it into words. He scared me because he was looking at me all the time. His eyes were fixed."
Harris, she added, was "carrying on as if nothing had happened", still signing autographs. She said she threw away the autograph and left.
Harris, she added, was meanwhile "carrying on as if nothing had happened", still signing autographs.
The incident had stayed with her forever, she told Wass: "I can hear a song from that era, I can shut my eyes and go straight back to that moment."
The woman said later told her husband and children: "Whenever Rolf Harris was on the telly I couldn't watch it. I'd have to turn it off. People would ask why and I'd tell them why."
The woman said she was accompanied by her 12-year-old brother but did not tell him at the time, or her mother, later, as her mother was ill at the time.
Sonia Woodley QC, defending Harris, put it to the woman that Harris did not go to Portsmouth before 1978. She replied: "I was there. I met Rolf Harris at that community centre when I was a little girl."
Later, she said, she told her husband and children, and some friends: "Whenever Rolf Harris was on the telly I couldn't watch it. I'd have to turn it off. People would ask why and I'd tell them why."
The other alleged victim said she was working as a waitress at a celebrity event in Cambridge in about 1975 when she saw Harris, knowing immediately who she was: "He was part of growing up, I recognised him instantly."
Sonia Woodley QC, defending Harris, put it to the woman that Harris had never appeared at the leisure centre in Portsmouth. She replied: "I was there. I met Rolf Harris at that community centre when I was a little girl."
After Harris put his arm around her shoulder, she told the court, he moved his hand down her back to her bottom: "I was too young to really understand the term, but it was really like groping," the woman said. "I remember it was very firm and he squeezed it a few times."
Another alleged victim said she was working as a waitress at a celebrity event in Cambridge in about 1975 when she encountered Harris playing with a small dog, watched by a semi-circle of laughing people.
She felt "frozen", the woman said, while Harris continued joking with those nearby.
She knew immediately it was Harris, said the woman, now in her early 50s: "He was part of growing up, I recognised him instantly."
Harris, 84, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies 12 counts of indecent assault. The trial continues on Monday.
Harris spoke to her and put his arm around her shoulder, she told the court. Facing away from the crowd he moved his hand down her back and on to her buttock.
"I was too young to really understand the term, but it was really like groping," the woman said. "I remember it was very firm and he squeezed it a few times."
The alleged victim said Harris continued joking with the crowd while she was "frozen". She said: "I think when you're a child and you have someone doing that to you it feels very awkward and you don't know how to react."
Harris, 84, who lives in Bray, Berkshire, denies 12 counts of indecent assault, seven of which are connected to another alleged victim, a friend of his daughter, Bindi.
