Rolf Harris takes witness stand in UK trial

Veteran entertainer Rolf Harris took to the witness stand for the first time in the UK trial that sees him charge with 12 indecent assaults between 1968 and 1986.

Harris, 84, denied an allegation he assaulted a 13 year old girl in 1978 after she came out of a shower. He also denied claims she was abused after she had been swimming in the sea and later in the holiday, while she was lying in a bunk bed.

Later, as an adult, he claims she became “flirtatious” with him, saying: “It was a very flattering feeling for this young lady to be showing an interest in me.”

“There were some whispered nothings between us, I think I kissed her and there was some foreplay.”

He admitted performing a sex act on her, but said it was consensual, leading to further sexual encounters.

“She seemed to be welcoming the whole business and enjoying it,” he said.

He alleged she asked for £25,000, which Harris refused to give to her, and threatened to talk to the press.

“She thought because I was doing Animal Hospital at the time, which was very successful from the start, I would be rolling in money, I suppose, and be willing to help,” he said.

The alleged victim, who was a friend of his daughter’s, is the subject of seven of the 12 charges Harris faces, including six alleged assaults when she was aged 16 or under.

He said he had apologised, telling jurors: “I felt I had let everybody down, I felt I had let (wife) Alwen down, and (daughter) Bindi down and (the alleged victim’s) parents down so I said ‘please forgive me’ and she said, ‘I forgive you’.”

Harris described himself as a “touchy-feely” person but this week Perth radio presenter Verity James claimed Harris grabbed her breast while posing for a photo after an interview in 2001 and referred to him as “the octopus.”

On the London witness stand, Harris outlined his rise to stardom – describing how he invented his ‘wobble-board’ and even singing a segment of Jake The Peg to the jury.

Source: BBC, Daily Mail