The sentence for Rolf Harris has been handed down.
Australian entertainer, Rolf Harris, 84, has been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison. He is likely he will be automatically released after three years.
His daughter Bindi and niece Jenny were at London’s Southwark Crown Court to see the sentence handed down, but his wife, Alwen, who attended most of his court appearances, stayed away.
In sentencing, the judge, Mr Justice Sweeney, told Harris he had clearly “taken advantage of the trust placed in you through your celebrity status.” And that, “you have shown no remorse at all, your reputation lies in ruins. You have nobody to blame but yourself.”
Earlier this week, after 6 weeks of evidence, Harris was found guilty on 12 charges of indecently assaulting four girls. The claims relate to alleged indecent assaults over a 20-year period from 1968 to 1986 in the UK, in Australia, New Zealand and Malta.
Victim impact statements were read out in court, including one from Australian Tonya Lee, abused by Harris when she was 15 years old, who said, “What Mr Harris took from me was my very essence. It was something I have never moved on from.”
Another, a friend of Harris’s daughter Bindi, spoke of the long-lasting impact of her assaults, one of which happened while Bindi was sleeping in a bed in the same room. She said, “I have never had a meaningful relationship when sober. Rolf Harris had a hold on me which made me a quivering wreck.” The judge said that in this case, he had “no doubt” that the assault was to blame for the victim becoming an alcoholic.
In sentenced, Harris’s defence lawyer was asked to take his advanced age into consideration.
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