Rolf can’t ‘sing his way’ out

The jury in Rolf Harris's trial have been told it's 'very close' to being asked to consider their verdict.

A JURY has been urged by prosecutors not to be blinded by the fame of Rolf Harris who could no longer "sing his way out" of two decades of being a sinister deviant pervert who sexual assaulted young women and girls as he liked.

In her closing argument to the six men and six women jury, prosecutor Sasha Wass QC told Southwark Crown Court there was no doubt the 84-year-old has had a glittering career as a "seemingly untouchable" children's entertainer.

But she said Harris by his own admission had a dark side that he hid from family, friends and fans. She said that extended to his deviant sexual assaults and using girls as sex objects brazenly assaulted them in public.

"His fame, wealth, age or talent should not be used as an excuse for his behaviour," Ms Wass urged the jury.

She added all men were equal in the eyes of the court and added "you can't sing your way out of a criminal charge" — a reference to the first day Harris took to the witness stand and strangely sang the opening verse of Jake the Peg tune for the jury as he detailed his stella career as a singer and entertainer.

Waiting his fate ... Australian entertainer Rolf Harris arrives with his daughter Bindi, left, at Southwark Crown Court in London. Picture: Alastair Grant Source: AP

She described Harris several times as a pervert and a deviant who was not just touching up girls but rather abusing them in a pattern consistent with being a Jekyll and Hyde persona.

"He was a sinister pervert who had a demon lurking beneath the charming exterior," Ms Wass said.

She said the jury could be tempted to consider reasonable doubt from the stories of the four victims named in the 12 charges of indecent assault or further six witnesses who alleged they were sexual assaulted but for jurisdictional reasons don't form part of the indictment.

Defending himself ... Rolf Harris arrives at Southwark Crown Court. Picture: Alastair Grant Source: AP

Supporter ... Bindi Harris, daughter of veteran Rolf Harris, arrives. Picture: Alastair Grant Source: AP

But with the exception of a mother and daughter victims, the women did not know each other and had no reason to invent stories. Ms Wass urged the jury to look at the cases collectively, there were similarities in how he operated and it was almost how Harris himself liked to paint a picture.

"It paints a picture, each stroke can be a little vague or unclear but taken together you can identify what is happening," she told the court.

She went on to say that the picture painted was of a man who considered himself untouchable, was arrogant in the way he dismissed their claims of assault and a man who treated women and girls as sexual objects to be groped and assaulted when he felt like it.

Ms Wass accused Harris of being a "determined purposeful liar" who had been constantly tailoring his answers to the available evidence, an act she said which caused him to "come unstuck" in his denials a few times when fresh evidence later materialised.

She said Harris would throw up random observations as distractions and highlighting missing details from the evidence of victims. But she said while some dates and details were missing their vivid accounts of the assaults were clear.

Ms Wass added: "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".

Ms Wass was also somewhat critical of Bindi Nicholls' evidence in that she said it was clear she was not so perceptive of alleged abuse of her friend as a teenager that years later she apparently did not notice when – on his own evidence – Harris was being masturbated by the victim then as an adult while the three of them sat under a blanket and watched TV together.

"Bindi's memory doesn't appear to be as clear as it ought to be if she is supporting her father as she sought to do," Ms Wass said.

A huge contingent of the Harris family and friends were in court today including his daughter Bindi Nicholls for the first time and his wife Alwen.

Ms Wass' closing argument will take all day as she recaps on the evidence of each of the 10 victims and witnesses. She said some may be tempted by the argument that a lot of his sinister behaviour was perfectly acceptable in the 1960s and 1970s but it was never acceptable to abuse and manipulate the way Harris allegedly had for his own sexual gratification.

Harris has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of indecent assault.

The case continues.

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