Rolf looked at his daughter then carried on abusing me ... I think it gave him a thrill
RolF Harris ‘got a thrill’ out of sexually assaulting a girl of 15 while his own daughter slept just feet away, a court heard yesterday.
His alleged victim told jurors that she ‘just felt dead’, after being subjected to 16 years of abuse at the hands of the ‘creepy’ entertainer during sleepovers and holidays with his daughter.
She said it started when she joined the Harris family for a luxury holiday to Hawaii in 1978 when she was just 13. She told the jury she was too ‘scared’ to say anything because of his fame.
Southwark Crown Court heard how the children’s TV star, now 84, brazenly assaulted her as his wife and daughter Bindi – who was a close childhood friend – were within eyeshot.
on one occasion he even performed a sex act on her in 16-year-old Bindi’s bedroom while his daughter slept in a single bed beside them, the court was told.
Unable to cope with the abuse, she resorted to binge drinking by the age of 14, even taking bottles of gin with her when she went to stay at Harris’s house in Bray, Berkshire. Secretly, she kept glasses of gin beside her bed in case Harris crept into
‘He gave me one of his big hugs. It was creepy’
Bindi’s room in the morning on the pretext of bringing the girls tea.
She told jurors Harris performed a sex act on her during two sleepovers when she was 15. The first assault happened when Bindi had awoken and left the room, but on the second occasion, she was sleeping in the same room.
She said: ‘I had some gin by my bed in a glass, it looked like water. I woke up earlier, I had some gin. I didn’t want to get up. I didn’t want to be the f i rst up with him (Harris) around.
‘Bindi was asleep and Rolf came in with a cup of tea and basically performed exactly the same act.’
The woman, now 49, said: ‘Bindi was not far away.
‘He didn’t feel inhibited. I think he got a thrill out of it. From the look on his face – he was looking over at Bindi and then just carried on.’
Yesterday Harris’s wife of 56 years, Alwen Hughes, 82, sat frozen, pointedly refusing to look at the witness stand as the victim gave lurid details of her 16-year ordeal from behind a screen.
She said the abuse started when she was 13 after being invited on a five-week holiday in Hawaii with the Harris family.
He is alleged to have pounced on her in a hotel suite, touching her intimately as she came out of a shower wearing just a towel.
‘He just came over to me and gave me one of his big hugs and tickles. It was not really fun, I thought it was creepy,’ she said. ‘It was cringey. I never liked it.
‘He would wrap me in his arms and he would just tickle me up and down, all over my body.’
The Australian is said to have slipped his hand inside her towel and touched her while mumbling: ‘You’re lovely’. She told jurors: ‘I was shocked and panicked – I didn’t know what to do.’
Days l ater, he i s accused of molesting the girl just yards from his sunbathing wife and daughter as she emerged from the sea.
She said: ‘Rolf had a towel ready for me. He wrapped it round me. When he did that he fondled my crotch.’ Harris later told her that he was ‘turned on’ by the flesh-coloured bikini she was wearing.
The jury heard that the victim often awoke to hear the click of Harris’s camera as he took photographs of her and fondled her in a bunk bed. She said she ‘felt disgusted in myself for letting him do it,’ but was afraid to speak out.
‘I was a very shy child, excruciatingly shy really, and I just hadn’t got the guts to shout out and I thought, well, if you shout out it will cause mayhem anyway,’ she said.
When asked if she was scared of Harris, or his reputation and fame, the witness answered: ‘His fame. From quite an early age I was scared of him...my mother always said don’t trust a man with a beard.’
Returning from holiday, ‘confused and angry’ the schoolgirl sought refuge in alcohol.
Whenever Harris visited her home with his wife, she would down five glasses of gin to stop her trembling and calm her ‘pounding’ heart, she
‘I felt it was all my fault. I just felt really low’
said. Harris is alleged to have regularly abused the youngster in her bedroom before returning downstairs to make jokes with her parents. He is also accused of exposing himself when she was 15. She recalled: ‘It was very small, very very small and he started to fondle himself. I think he expected me to get involved, but I didn’t.’
Harris is also accused of molesting her in his indoor swimming pool in Bray when she was 19.
By the age of 29, she was drinking every day as t heir af f ai r – which Harris admits – had turned sexual.
During this time she alleges Harris touched her intimately just before he was due to perform in Cinderella at Wimbledon Theatre.
She said: ‘I got taken backstage into a dressing room. He gave me a big hug and a tickle and put his hands down my trousers.’
Harris then persuaded her to perform a sex act on him, she claims. She went on: ‘I did say no on a few occasions... but he’d just carry on.’ She told the court: ‘I just felt dead. I felt it was all my fault – what took place between me and Rolf – because I didn’t stop him. I just felt really low and all my self- confidence went.’
She added: ‘I was just so scared of him. He is a huge character and I j ust thought I didn’t stand a chance.’
Harris is accused of using his celebrity status to ‘brazenly’ abuse four girls aged seven to 19 between 1968 and 1986.
Yesterday he betrayed no emotion as the witness described 15 assaults.
He has admitted having an affair with the woman – but denies sexual contact while she was underage. He denies a total of 12 counts of indecent assault.
The trial continues.