Rolf Harris indecently assaulted blind, disabled woman in hospital, London court hears.

By Steve Cannane

A London court has heard that Australian entertainer Rolf Harris took advantage of a blind and disabled woman, indecently assaulting her from behind at a hospital.

The woman’s police interview was played in court as evidence in the trial where Harris is facing seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

The 86-year-old is pleading not guilty to all charges.

The woman who is now in her 60s, said she met Harris at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London in 1977, when she was recovering from having an eye removed.

The woman said she went to shake hands with the entertainer when the alleged assault began.

“Within seconds he was behind me, leaning right across me, and he starts by kissing me on the back of my neck and I can feel the hot air from his nostrils coming down my neck and he’s obviously getting more excited by what he’s doing by the frequency of his breathing,” she said.

“And I can feel his beard tickling the back of my neck and he says, ‘you are gorgeous … you are a lovely woman’, and he starts slobbering all over me.”

The woman said she repeatedly told Harris to stop, but he refused, saying that he was a “touchy feely sort of bloke”.

The woman who was not only blind at the time, but relied on walking sticks to get around, said she felt trapped.

“I can’t push the chair back because his body weight is leaning forward so I can’t move and I’m thrashing my head around to stop him kissing my neck,” she said.

The woman claimed Harris went on to put his hand down her skirt, feel her bottom and repeatedly touch her breasts and nipples.

She likened the entertainer to an octopus.

“Rolf Harris doesn’t ask permission,” she said.

“I just could not escape, and being blind, I couldn’t really tell where he was, and I couldn’t get up. I was completely and utterly trapped.”

The woman said the alleged assault lasted around 10 minutes.

‘I thought I was the only person. I wasn’t’.

The woman made a report to police in 2014 after watching media coverage of Harris’ first trial for indecent assault.

“I found myself yelling at the TV saying ‘you evil bastard, because I know what you did to me’,” she told the court.

Under cross-examination the woman denied that she was making up the allegations for financial gain.

She admitted to struggling financially for many years because of her disability, and confirmed that she did ask a police officer about her entitlement to compensation after the trial.

But the woman said she was not trying to prey on Harris’ ruined reputation in the wake of his earlier convictions.

“The reason I’m here is I thought I was the only person, and then I realised I wasn’t,” she said.

“I was so shocked and incensed by it I really wanted justice to be done.

“He only has himself to blame, and what I wish he would do is apologise to his victims — me being one of them.”

The defence also played the jury a recording of the woman and Harris laughing and singing together around two hours after the alleged assault.

“I know how it would seem,” the woman told the court.

“But I can assure you [the assault] happened. When you see Rolf as he is there, you would never believe he’s the same person.

“He has so much to give, and he’s wasted it all.”

The next witness to be called is a man who was in the hospital room at the time of the alleged assault.

He is expected to tell the jury that he did not see the alleged assault happen.

This post originally appeared on ABC News.