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Rolf Harris faces court in London on groping charges

A court sketch of Rolf Harris from the hearing into seven sexual assault allegations.

A court sketch of Rolf Harris from the hearing into seven sexual assault allegations. Photo: ABC/Supplied

A London court has heard that Australian entertainer Rolf Harris indecently assaulted three teenage girls in the 1970s and ’80s.

The 87-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all four charges.

Mr Harris appeared in Southwark Crown Court via videolink on the first day of the trial.

The complainants were aged between 13 and 16 at the time of the alleged offences.

One of the women claims she sought an autograph from the entertainer at a youth music festival when she was 14 years old.

She says Harris then pulled her onto his knee before putting his hand up her skirt and touching her genitals through her tights.

The court will hear from another woman who says the musician groped her at a BBC TV broadcast when she was 13 years old.

She alleges that after he slipped his hand under her breast he said to her: “Do you often get molested on a Saturday morning?”

In his opening comments, Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said: “It offends common sense to suggest that these three women, independently of each other, should just happen to fabricate complaints of a similar nature.”

A jury of seven women and five men has been sworn in. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

– ABC

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