o sung wu, I've been trying to determine the known time period that the offences occurred over. Nothing definate so far other than comments that the abuses occurred over a period of around 30 years starting sometime in the 70's. It's not some bad mistake made in his teens and its clear that Harris has never tried to put it right. This was not a one off incident from someone in a short term bad place, rather a string of abuses occuring over many years against children both known to him and trustedin his care and complete strangers who he happened to have access to.

I don't think in that case his age matters.

I would be in favor of leniency if he had at some stage in the past sought treatment and taken steps to undo as much of the damage as he could. He has done none of that, instead denying his abusive behaviour.

Is Mise there is a good case for some kind of statute of limitations for any offence where the offender can be located, clearly Harris is in that category. I do though think the shift to a willingness by authorities to prosecute high profile abusers has been slow in coming and there are good reasons why some of these cases have not been dealt with earlier. I'm not entirely happy with any answer I can see to that aspect of the issue.

R0bert

Hats off to the police for excellent detective work, going the long hard yards and for handling it all so discreetly to protect all parties and the evidence against the ratbags of the media. If there was ever a case that could easily have ended in a mistrial through media stupidity, sensationalism and arrogance it was this one.

Thanks to the police here too, serving and past, for dealing with scum and often while being criticised by tabloids and headline hunting politicians. Thank God so many police make it personal and give so much of themselves to the job.

So many people are in a state of denial about this - looking for excuses or conspiracies. It somehow challenges their world view and perhaps even the memory of their childhood.

The simple truth is that he was just another celebrity who thought his fame meant he could get away with inappropriate behaviour. He's not the first and will certainly not be the last.

It seems tame compared to the long-term institutionalised abuse still being investigated in this country but was still wrong.

Prison seems rather harsh because he will now live out the rest of his life in disgrace and as an object of loathing for many.

There is no joy in this for anybody but I find it difficult to feel genuinely sorry for him.

I feel more sorry for myself because of the now-tainted memories I have of him.

The feelings of the girls involved seem to have been brushed aside too.

Individual seems to have a strange fetish for talking about the "lefty ALP" at every opportunity.

I think he'll find that most sexual perverts and predators present themselves publicly as being extremely conservative and typically homophobic.

That includes chair-sniffing Liberal politicians and the occasional right-wing shock-jock. These are the biggest hypocrites of all.

<< …because his "groping" of relative strangers appears to be at the low end of molestation, you [individual] are blaming the girls because they didn't make a song and dance about it while his hands were still roaming.

Yes Poirot, right at the lowest end of molestation, if at all. I would say not molestation at all. Not by a long way actually.

He did this openly and gained a reputation for it.

What does that tell us?

I think it pretty clearly says that neither he nor anyone else thought too much of it… certainly not to the extent of it being illegal, paedophilic or molestationary.

There is something very wrong in our society that his actions can now be classed as being of a very serious nature.

This is completely different to the surreptitious activities of paedophile priests who knew they were doing bad things, and the cover-ups by the churches other institutions.

We’ve been disgusted by child abuse in many faith-based and other institutions. Well, I think we need be very careful to cop the real offenders and to not tar everyone with the same brush who may have done something which was in any way a little bit less than proper.

I think Rolf has been caught up in this paedophile purge, and that we are going to look back on his punishment with a lot of regret in a few years’ time, as being a very over-the-top reaction, promulgated much more by large-scale disgust over decades of hidden child abuse than by his actual activities.

<< What Rolf is alleged to have done was wrong, it was wrong in 1960 and it's still wrong in 2014, however.... The hysteria surrounding the case is way out of proportion to the offences and what's particularly disturbing is the way the organisations with which he was associated are taking this scorched earth approach to his life and works… >>

Absolutely, Jay. There are too many people thinking in simplistic black and white terms, who can see only that he has been convicted and is therefore a despicable pervert, end of story.

Quite frankly I think there are a lot of quite disgusting people out there who are far too ready to completely condemn and destroy someone, if they are just given the opportunity.

<< …in spite of his lewdness he did actually do some good in the world. >>

Yes. We could all do with a bit of perspective as to what he has achieved and given to us compared to the magnitude of his wrongdoings.