Convicted pedophile Rolf Harris will be released from prison in the week of his 90th birthday after being sentenced to five years and nine months jail.
Harris was found guilty of all 12 charges of sexual assault on four girls between 1968 and 1986. One of the accusers was a childhood friend of Rolf’s daughter Bindi who testified that she was abused by Harris during family holidays when she was 13 years old. Harris argued the “affair” began when she was 18. His youngest victim was seven or eight at the time of the assault.
In handing down the sentence Judge Nigel Sweeney said “You have shown no remorse for your crimes at all. Your reputation lies in ruins, you have been stripped of your honours, but you have no-one to blame but yourself.”
The case brings to an end what was a remarkable entertainment career which has since seen Harris stripped of his ARIA Hall of Fame award, his BAFTA and now most likely his numerous royal honours including the CBE. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Harris the Order of Australia in 2012.
The 84 year old entertainer was one of Australia’s first international successes. He achieved a Top 10 hit in the UK in 1960 and USA in 1963 with ‘Tie Me Kangaroos Down Sport’. The song reached no 1 in Australia. Harris re-recorded the song in 2000 with The Wiggles.
Rolf Harris was also a television star in Australia and the UK, especially on children’s television. Rolf Harris’s Cartoon Time rang for 10 years from 1979 on the BBC and Rolf’s Cartoon Club was
broadcast from 1989 to 1993 on ITV.
Harris was the first artist to perform at the Sydney Opera House when it opened in 1973.
The five year nine month sentence seems to have been designed to keep Rolf in jail until just after he turns 90. With birth birthdate of March 30, 1934 the timing of release would see his out of jail at age 90 and one week. However new charges are brewing for the shamed entertainer and if more cases go to court, Rolf’s sentence could be extended.
Lawyers for Harris now have 21 days to appeal this sentence.
