Source : the age
Warning: Graphic content
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of day six of Alan Jones’ lengthy criminal trial on charges of indecent assault and sexual touching. Our reporters Clare Sibthorpe and Jacqueline Maley will be bringing you the latest from the courtroom today.
Last week, the NSW Local Court in Sydney’s historic Downing Centre court complex heard allegations that Jones indecently assaulted a young athlete, starting with unwanted kissing when the man was a teenager in year 12 in the early 2000s. Jones denies the claims.
Our live coverage was paused on Wednesday after Local Court Judge Glenn Walsh temporarily imposed a non-publication order on the cross-examination of the complainant, known as “J”, by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC. That order was lifted on Thursday afternoon.
“J”, now in his early 40s, denied under questioning by Bashir that he had a financial motive for making the allegations against Jones, and denied that they were a fabrication.
He has given evidence that Jones groped him as he drove the then-radio host to his Fitzroy Falls farm. “J” has also told the court that Jones had indecently assaulted him at the property after telling him to wear “a robe and nothing else”.
The complainant said he came forward to police after seeing reports about Jones’ arrest in November 2024 because he wanted justice.
Jones had supported the promising athlete financially, including paying him hundreds of dollars a week to focus on training and giving him a car and a mobile phone, the court heard.
Today, the man known as complainant “J” returns to the witness box for a sixth day. He will be re-examined by prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, after his cross-examination concluded on Friday.
A man known as “C” will be the next complainant to give evidence.
Bashir asked “J” a series of questions about whether he read media reports containing similar allegations about Jones in 2023 before he spoke to police the following year. He said he did not.
The Crown alleges that Jones indecently assaulted or sexually touched six men between 2003 and 2020, and is seeking to prove 22 charges against him, including nine indecent assault charges against “J”.
The former broadcaster has emphatically denied wrongdoing, and Bashir said during her opening address to the court that the credibility and reliability of the complainants’ evidence would be tested.
“Rivalry, treachery, double-dealing, money, hatred, desperation, opportunism and more are all at the heart of this case,” Bashir said in her opening remarks to the court.
Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.
The brother of complainant “J” is the second witness to give evidence in Alan Jones’ trial.
He told the court this morning that he did not see Jones do anything inappropriate to his brother, who was a teen athlete in the early 2000s, but that “J” had told him after Jones’ arrest in November 2024 that he was “one of the people who has come forward” to police.
These are the key parts of his evidence so far:
- He met Jones with his brother “J” on a number of occasions, including at the 2GB studio, at Jones’ harbourside apartment and at the then broadcaster’s farm at Fitzroy Falls in the Southern Highlands.
- He was aware that “J” received a number of gifts from Jones, including a mobile phone, a car, and a weekly allowance to help him focus on training. Records suggest “J” received the phone when he was 18 and the car when he was 19.
- “J” and Jones would communicate via texts and calls, his brother said, and Australian Idol “was an interest that they both had”.
- He said he had also received expensive gifts from Jones. He recalled that when he was planning to propose to his now wife, “J” told him that Jones would like to help. The then 2GB host bought the engagement ring and a Villeroy and Boch dinner set as a wedding gift, the court heard.
- “J” told him at a meeting at McDonald’s in late 2024, after Jones’ arrest over allegations he kissed or touched a number of men without consent, that it was “the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to tell you” but he was “one of the people” who had come forward about Jones.
- He said he asked “J” at this meeting why he hadn’t told him earlier, and “J” had replied that it was hard for him and he didn’t know what to do. “J” said he didn’t want “the money, the support” from Jones to stop, his brother said.
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He said he asked “J” how bad it had been and “J” had replied: “Nothing too bad. He didn’t try to f— me or anything like that. He would try, he would grab me on the c—, he would kiss me … the hugs would go for longer.”
Jones vehemently denies the allegations and is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
The brother of complainant “J” will continue giving evidence after the lunch break, when the hearing resumes at 2pm.
Complainant “J”’s brother is shown a document that appears to indicate “J” received a mobile phone from Jones shortly after he turned 18.
The connection date for the phone is about a month after his birthday, the court hears.
Defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC, asks the brother of “J” whether that record indicates that texts and calls that he recalls between Jones and “J” may not have been when the teen athlete was in high school.
The man agrees that they “may well not have been”.
The court has previously heard that Alan Jones gave complainant “J” a series of gifts including a mobile phone, a car and a weekly allowance.
The brother of complainant “J” agreed with Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, that it “wasn’t any secret” that Jones had bought the car for “J”, but he added that the former radio host “didn’t want public praise”.
But it “wasn’t secret”, Bashir pressed.
“Not in the family, no,” the man replied.
Records tendered in the trial suggest the car was given to “J” when he was 19 years old.
Alan Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, is cross-examining the brother of “J” now.
He agrees with Bashir that, prior to the meeting with “J” in 2024, “J” had never told him that he was frightened of Jones or that he needed help, or that the former broadcaster had ever touched him in a sexual way.
Warning: Graphic evidence
The brother of complainant “J” is being taken back to his police statement in 2024.
In that document, he said that “J” had told him at their meeting at McDonald’s that Jones “never wanted to f— me or me to do anything to him; he would kiss me on the lips and try and grab me on the c—.
“It started with the hugs getting longer, and it went from there. I remember one time he put his hands on my shoulders and told me he loved me; he would grab me on the c— and ask me if it was OK.
“I would always say that I was uncomfortable with it … and Alan would say OK and then he would completely change, and it was like he was a different person.”
He said today that this accorded with his recollection of the conversation at McDonald’s.
The brother of complainant “J” gave a statement to police in 2024 after his conversation with “J” at McDonald’s, the court has heard.
He is shown the document before he continues giving evidence.
Asked if he recalls what “J” told him at the meeting after he asked the complainant “how bad” the alleged assaults had been, he said “J” told him “the hugs would start to get longer” and he would tell Jones “he was uncomfortable with it”.
He said “J” told him Jones “would change” and “become a different person”.
The brother of complainant “J” has told the court that “J” asked to meet him at McDonald’s after Alan Jones was arrested.
He said “J” told him: “This is the hardest thing that I’ve ever had to tell you. You’ve probably seen the news about the defendant. I’m one of the people who has come forward.”
He said he asked “J” why he hadn’t told him earlier and “J” had replied that it was hard for him and he didn’t know what to do. “J” said he didn’t want “the money, the support” from Jones to stop, his brother said.
He said he asked “J” how bad it had been and “J” had replied: “Nothing too bad. He didn’t try to f— me or anything like that. He would try, he would grab me on the c—, he would kiss me … the hugs would go for longer.”
Asked if he ever saw Alan Jones act inappropriately towards complainant “J”, his brother said: “I didn’t.”
The brother of complainant “J” has told the court Jones bought him an engagement ring for his wife.
He was asked by Crown Prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, if Jones extended generosity to him.
“Yes, when I was planning to get engaged [and] proposed to my now wife,” he said.
He said “J” had told him that “Alan would like to help out” with the ring.
The man confirmed Jones bought the ring and gifted him a Villeroy and Boch dinner set on his wedding day.
