source : the age
Alan Jones’ butler has described delivering weekly flowers to a former athlete who was allegedly indecently assaulted by the then-broadcaster, while denying seeing inappropriate behaviour.
David Allan, who worked as Jones’ butler for nearly two decades, gave evidence in the former 2GB titan’s indecent assault and sexual touching trial in the Local Court on Thursday.
Jones, 85, has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges relating to five men over 17 years from 2003 to 2020. He denies that any alleged physical acts occurred.
Allan’s domestic duties stemmed from Jones’ “extraordinarily brutal regime of work hours” as an early morning radio host. The court heard that Jones regularly had only 2.5 hours of sleep each night.
Allan would cook for the near-daily prominent guests, serving lunches that became dinners and weekend feasts when Jones was off-air. Between managing dietary needs and oyster preferences, he ironed Jones’ underwear and handkerchiefs.
The former butler would ask if Jones wanted “crust on or off” when “knock[ing] up a few sandwiches”.
“I’d do all the cleaning … polish the shoes and clean the loos and everything else you do in the household,” he said.
Among Jones’ “endless” guests in the sporting world was a man dubbed in the trial as complainant “M”, Allan told the court.
“M” alleged Jones kissed him non-consensually on the corner of his mouth at an event in Sydney about a decade ago, and repeatedly on the cheek, moving towards his mouth, years later at the broadcaster’s Circular Quay apartment.
Asked by Crown prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, how Jones would greet “M” when he visited the 85-year-old’s harbourside apartment, Allan said it was “always the same as that all sports people seem to do”.
“It’s a hug, slap on the bottom, grab each other, ‘hello, champion’, and sit down and chat away, and off they go,” he said.
“Did you say slap on the bottom?” Wright asked.
“Well, it’s probably the wrong thing to say today. They slap each other; it’s what they do, sportsmen, [they] do it all the time. They score a try, they all get around, snuggle up and that, whatever they do.”
Wright clarified that she was only asking about “M”. The former butler replied that Jones would say, “hello, champion” and he did not recall him saying anything else.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Jones regarding Allan’s remarks.
Each Monday for about “a couple of months”, Allan would pick up fresh flowers from the markets and deliver them to “M”’s home.
He said Jones did not specifically say why he was buying and giving flowers to “M”, but would say “just get some”.
The witness said the flowers were also taken directly by “M” from Jones’ apartment or delivered by the driver and other contacts.
Earlier in the trial, “M” testified that Jones sent him weekly flowers for years and that he sent the former radio host flowers at least once.
He described first speaking to Jones in a telephone interview when he was a junior athlete, and meeting him socially from his early 20s. The alleged kisses occurred when he was in his 30s.
Jones’ barrister Claire O’Neill asked during cross-examination if Allan had ever witnessed “any behaviour by Mr Jones towards a male athlete that was inappropriate in that time period”.
The man responded: “No, I can’t say I did.”
He said he also did not see any inappropriate behaviour towards a different complainant in the trial, referred to as “C”.
“C” regularly visited Jones’ apartment while working as his employee and undertook a range of professional and personal duties, including driving. The man, who is decades younger than Jones, earlier told the court Jones kissed him non-consensually on multiple occasions in lifts at Jones’ apartment or the 2GB studios. He alleged Jones touched his penis over his clothes several times, including under a table at a group lunch, where Allan was among the guests.
Allan said he may have recalled the lunch in question but did not recall if “C” was there.
The witness agreed with O’Neill that Jones would “occasionally hug people … or give them a kiss on the cheek” when saying hello or goodbye.
He accepted there were occasions Jones would touch someone’s back or shoulder “in a friendly manner”.
O’Neill suggested Allan occasionally saw Jones “touch someone’s leg as if to make a point”.
“I guess I’ve seen that, I suppose I might have seen that,” he replied.
