I just find it all so heartbreaking. I feel for the young girls he assaulted and whose ingenuous trust he took advantage of; I feel for his family, who now need to decide if they can ever forgive him or whether they ever should; I feel for myself, for the disfigurement of another innocent part of my life tucked away back there, the shattering of what now I see was just a fond childhood illusion.
Everyone coming out with what they'd do to him if they got him in a room to themselves... I'm sorry, I know I'm a softarse, but I couldn't bring myself to do physical harm to Rolf Harris. He'll die in prison, or else come out a frail and broken man, the damage will have been done, have no fear. The damage is vast and irreversible, and I don't believe he will be completely immune to sincere guilt now that it's all confronted him at once, unignorably and inescapably. Is that enough? In a way, no; in a way, yes.
The truly hard question is not what you'd do if a dear loved one was the victim, but if they were the perpetrator. At the extreme end of crimes of this ilk, utter severance of all ties and disownership would seem the only option... but that's easier said than done with someone you love deeply and been close to for much of/all your life. And what of the crimes that while still vile, are not so extreme? If the victms can forgive them, can you? I cannot even contemplate such matters of the heart.
