‘I HELPED BRING DOWN ROLF HARRIS'

SUZI WAS A KEY WITNESS IN THE TRIAL THAT SENT ROLF TO JAIL

- Jasmine Kazlauskas

Back in 1986, Suzi Dent was over the moon after she took a job to work with one of the biggest entertainers in the world – Rolf Harris.

The 24-year-old had been a makeup artist for three years and this was the biggest celebrity she had ever worked on.

The then 56-year-old Rolf Harris arrived at a television studio in Sydney and Suzi was put to work – but her excitement quickly turned to disgust and fear.

Suzi claims Harris touched her inappropriately over 24 times – which she alleges was completely ignored by the management team.

While shaken up, Suzi, now 57, says she tried to forget the incident, but when Harris was charged with 12 counts of indecent assault of girls and a young woman in 2013, she decided to come forward.

The mum of one contacted the UK police to see if she could assist the prosecution and was flown to London, where she appeared as a ‘bad character witness’ during the trial in 2014 – which, along with other testimonies, helped convict Rolf Harris. Known back then only as the ‘anonymous Australian makeup artist’, Suzi – who now lives on the Gold Coast with her husband Don, 56, and son Jack, 18 – decided to waive her anonymity to tell her story for the first time.

“I look back at it now as having a bad day at work with a dirty old man” Suzi reveals to New Idea.