Ralph Harris

[crystal**flake]

Did he abuse children?

[izabsmiling]

the alleged victims was 14 yrs old...on holidays in England

[izabsmiling]

victim not victims 

[polksaladallie]

She wasn't on holidays.  She went to work in some sort of show business, and claims she was assaulted at a function for the whole cast.

[izabsmiling]

Paid interviews may risk trial

Date May 13, 2013 Nick Ralston

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/paid-interviews-may-risk-trial-20130513-2ji96.ht...

[i-need-a-martini]

I don't think so.  She was 14, and it happened in London.  He has lived in England for 60 years or so.

As is the case in so many past abuse cases, the victim keeps silent, and when some sort of investigation or publicity takes place (as in Australia now with institutional abuse), victims find the courage and support to speak up, sometimes after 50 years of suffering.

I realise that.

But if that had happened to me, even if the perpertrator was a non-Australian citizen (which Harris is not), my first report to authorities would be in my own country.

I just thought it odd that she would contact the UK police in the first instance. 

And then when I heard she had done a paid interview, it made me even more suspicious.

I'm not saying what she says happened, didn't. It might have. I just think it odd that she would seek the kind of publicity she would get in going to the UK police (in light of the Saville cases) and now the interview...

[i-need-a-martini]

I meant above that Harris IS still an Australian citizen even though he lives in the UK.

[polksaladallie]

I realise that.

But if that had happened to me, even if the perpertrator was a non-Australian citizen (which Harris is not), my first report to authorities would be in my own country.

I just thought it odd that she would contact the UK police in the first instance. 

If a victim of a paedophile in an Australian institution 20 years ago heard about the Royal Commission here and lives in say, Canada, they would contact the Australian authorities, I would think.

I think he would have dual citizenship.

[polksaladallie]

This article was dated at the beginning of this year...

...." In the last few weeks it has emerged police interviewed two women in Australia in connection with sex abuse claims.

One said she was a witness to an incident, another claimed Harris sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager in the UK."

There is no talk of children so leave the subject alone!

A 14 year old in 1985 was a young child.

[cherry*135]

I would think the females here who have been interviewed by UK police, would have heard about Operation Yewtree  (with its 3 or so different strands) and contacted the UK police in charge of that Operation.

Australian police wouldn't have anything to do with an incident that happened in another jurisdiction would they?

The entertainers arrested and/or under suspicion all lived in the UK when the alleged incidents occured and they would be subject to UK laws.

[cherry*135]

Woman from Wollonging, NSW who was intereviewed by UK police.

From the link in Post 18:

Mother-of-three Tonya Lee has alleged that the assault occurred in a London pub in 1986 when she was 14. It allegedly occurred when Ms Lee was one of 12 members of a youth theatre group from Carlton, in Sydney’s south, on a six-week tour of Britain.

I am posting this as item from the news, nothing more. There has been some criticism of this woman doing a paid interview, in which some think that may make her lose credibility with a jury.