Rolf Harris witness admits date error in sexual assault allegation
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Version 0 of 1. A woman who said she was groped by Rolf Harris in a London pub when she was 15 has admitted she was wrong about the date she claims she was abused by him, a court in London has heard. Former actor Tonya Lee, 43, told the jury at Southwark crown court on Tuesday that she was sexually abused twice by the Australian entertainer in a pub at the start of a theatre tour in May 1986. But under cross-examination on Wednesday, she accepted itinerary evidence from defence barrister Sonia Woodley QC that showed she did not meet Harris until the end of the tour. The defence claims Lee, from Australia, did not have any physical contact with Harris. Lee said she was not a "robot" with a head for dates and had not kept any mementos or photographs from the tour because she did not want to be reminded of what happened. She told the jury her memory of the tour "floated into the ether" but her recollection of what happened to her was clear. "There is no doubt in my mind what occurred to me. Both assaults are very clear in my mind," she said. "I got the dates wrong, I admit to that." On Tuesday Lee told the court that Harris met the performers from the Shopfront Theatre Youth Group when they arrived at Heathrow airport in May 1986, and later went with them for dinner at a pub where she claims he indecently assaulted her. After she returned to Australia, she abandoned her dream of becoming a stage star, she told the court on Tuesday. Lee also admitted on Wednesday to being mistaken about the cause of her weight loss during the 1986 tour. She told the jury the previous day that she lost between 9lb and 13lb (4kg-6kg) when she "stopped eating" and began throwing up after Harris abused her. But she accepted on Wednesday that there were only six days between meeting Harris and her going home early in June that year, so the weight loss must have had a different cause. Lee said: "I don't know, maybe it was because I was overseas, away from my family. From that incident [with Harris] on, I did throw up and I did stop eating." She also denied claims that her eating disorders predated her meeting with Harris. Lee has waived the usual right to anonymity given to sex offence claimants. Harris, 84, is accused of 12 counts of indecent assault between 1968 and 1986, all of which he denies. Three of the charges relate to Lee's claims. The trial continues |