Rolf Harris’ hometown moved to purge all memory of the former cultural icon yesterday as Australia distanced itself from the disgraced entertainer after he was convicted of indecently assaulting girls.
Australian-born Harris, 84, was found guilty of all 12 charges against him after a six-week trial in London and now faces jail, capping a spectacular fall from grace.
The TV presenter, artist and musician assaulted four girls and young women aged from seven to 19 between 1968 and 1986, including his daughter Bindi’s childhood best friend, a court found.
Photo: Reuters
Harris was one of Australia’s best-loved personalities, who headed to London when he was 22 and made his name in Britain.
He shot to fame with his signature instrument, a wobble board, and songs about kangaroos and a man called Jake who had an extra leg, ultimately painting Queen Elizabeth II’s portrait on her 80th birthday.
In his hometown he was a hero, who was known as “The Boy from Bassendean,” after the Perth suburb where he grew up, but now Bassendean Mayor John Gangell wants nothing more to do with Harris, whose life and legacy are in ruin.
“These are heinous crimes. All privileges should be stripped from Mr Harris,” Gangell told ABC radio, adding that a meeting tomorrow would consider whether to remove his status as a freeman.
“It is a shock, but it’s something we must do now to distance ourselves from the crimes in which he’s been convicted. Unfortunately that world stage that he’s put Bassendean on has now come crashing down,” he said.
The town has already removed a framed portrait of him from the council chambers and was also considering whether to take down a plaque outside the family home.
A West Australian Education Department spokeswoman told reporters that several Harris artworks would also be removed from Perth Modern School, where he studied from 1943 to 1947.
Perth Mayor Lisa Scaffidi told Fairfax radio that the council would likely tear up a footpath plaque in his honor.
“It’s a very sad issue and something we need to deal with,” Scaffidi said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who grew up during Harris’ heyday, said he was “gutted and dismayed” at the verdict.
“But it’s very important that we do everything we humanly can to protect vulnerable young people,” Abbott said of a man once adored by children and adults alike. “Sexual abuse is an utterly abhorrent crime... and it’s just sad and tragic that this person, who was widely admired, seems to have been a perpetrator.”
The Australian media said it was clear Harris had a dark side.
“Guilty: Harris abused teens for years,” the Sydney Daily Telegraph said, while Fairfax Media dredged up a 20-minute anti-child abuse video Harris shot in the 1980s.
“In the period when the video began to be widely shown in schools, youth clubs and health institutes in the United Kingdom, the court found he was also having sexual encounters with his daughter’s best friend,” Fairfax said.
The Australian broadsheet said his fall from grace “will be complete when authorities move to strip him of all his royal and Australian honors.”
Harris was made a CBE in 2006 — one of the highest honors the queen can bestow — and appointed to the Order of Australia in 2012.
Labeled a “sinister pervert” by the prosecution, he is the second person convicted under Operation Yewtree.
The high-profile investigation was set up in 2012 after allegations that the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile was a prolific sex offender.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of