source : the age
Warning: Graphic content
Hello and thank you for reading our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
If you’re just joining us now, it has been a short day of evidence. Former 2GB heavyweight Ray Hadley, a longtime colleague of Alan Jones, started giving evidence in the trial after 2pm.
A legal issue arose that resulted in his evidence being paused about an hour later. Here are the key parts of his testimony so far.
- Hadley said complainant “C” told him in 2019 that Jones had “put his hand on my c— and kissed me” on a number of occasions some years earlier.
- “I asked him if he was homosexual, and whether he was consenting to it,” Hadley said. “He broke down and cried and said, ‘no, I hated it. I’m not homosexual’.”
- Hadley said he comforted “C” during the conversation and told him it was not his fault. He offered to take the complainant to the police, he said, but “C” had insisted he did not want to do this because Jones was “too powerful”.
- Hadley told the court that author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, a journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald, had been investigating allegations against Jones and that he facilitated a phone call between “C” and FitzSimons in 2019.
- At this stage, the complainant’s identity was kept secret from FitzSimons and the allegations were not reported, the court has heard.
- In 2023, the Herald’s chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont spoke to “C”, the court heard, and his allegations were published in an anonymised form. Hadley agreed he discussed the article on air.
The hearing resumes at 10am tomorrow, and Hadley’s evidence will continue at some stage after that.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 22 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent spanning six complainants and a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. He denies the allegations.
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.
Ray Hadley has walked out of the court complex and through a large media scrum.
Asked a variety of questions by journalists about his first day in the witness box, he gave a polite smile and said he could not say anything while under oath.
The broadcaster will be back tomorrow morning.
As is common during criminal trials, the evidence is paused while legal issues are agitated.
Ray Hadley has been waiting outside the courtroom for one such issue to be resolved, but he is brought in briefly to be excused until tomorrow.
Judge Glenn Walsh tells him that “an issue has arisen that is going to keep me occupied for the rest of the afternoon, and probably into the later hours”.
He tells Hadley that his evidence may resume at 10am, but the former broadcaster will be kept informed about when he is required.
“I realise you also have a life to live. I apologise,” Walsh says.
The two great rivals, Jones and Hadley, are seated at diagonal corners of the courtroom, Hadley leaning forward on his forearms, and occasionally allowing himself to glance at Jones, who is writing notes on his lap.
Hadley is gruff, matter-of-fact, and seemingly as unfazed discussing dates and times as he is testifying that “C” told him in 2019 that Jones had touched him on “the c—” some years earlier.
Judge Glenn Walsh quipped to Hadley as the first objection was raised that he has made a habit of prompting witnesses to get some exercise by leaving the room for legal arguments to be heard.
Hadley responded that as he was a bit older he could use the walk, before lumbering out of his seat towards the door.
Ray Hadley says complainant “C” told him in their initial conversation in late 2019 that he would have two bags in his hands when Alan Jones would “press him against the wall of the lift and kiss him on the lips”.
Ray Hadley agrees that he discussed Kate McClymont’s article about Alan Jones on air in late 2023.
“Did you have any communication with him [complainant ‘C’] about what you would say on air?” prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, asked.
“I did. I felt it was important that I didn’t say anything that he’d find difficult to deal with. Obviously, whatever I said was heavily legalled by the Channel Nine lawyers.”
Hadley said the segment was also pre-recorded so that he could not go off script.
Hadley says “C” told him that he had spoken to the Herald’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, in late 2023.
This was shortly before a story about Jones was published in that masthead, he told the court.
Ray Hadley says he gave a statement to police about Alan Jones in June 2024, while he was still working at 2GB. Jones had left in 2020.
He said that after his initial conversation with “C” in late 2019 he was “concerned for his welfare and checked in with him on a regular basis”.
Ray Hadley testifies that he told complainant “C” that author and journalist Peter FitzSimons, a columnist at The Sydney Morning Herald, was looking into allegations against Jones.
Hadley said he told the complainant that “Peter FitzSimons wanted to talk to him, that I hadn’t identified him, that it would not identify him, and basically left it at that”.
He said he told “C” that “under no circumstances would you identify yourself to him, nor would I identify him to anyone”.
This led to a call in which Hadley passed the phone to “C” to speak to FitzSimons, he said.
Ray Hadley says “C” told him that guests at a lunch almost 20 years ago were “laughing and giggling at what was happening” when Alan Jones touched him under the table.
“I kept consoling him,” Hadley said. “I felt sorry for him.”
He said he told “C” the alleged indecent assaults were not his fault.
Hadley said he asked “C” if he wanted him to accompany him to tell the police.
The complainant was adamant that he did not want this to occur, Hadley told the court. “C” had said that “it would ruin me; it would ruin my career” because Jones was “too powerful”, he said.
