source : the age
Warning: Graphic content
Good afternoon and thank you for reading our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent relating to six male complainants over a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. He denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
Today, the third of the six complainants, a former athlete dubbed “M”, was cross-examined for a second day by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC. He has alleged Jones kissed him non-consensually on two occasions and his allegations account for two of the 22 charges.
The cross-examination of “M” concluded this afternoon and the Crown has indicated it will re-examine him briefly tomorrow before calling two other witnesses related to his allegations.
Here is a recap of the complainant’s evidence today:
- “M” rejected suggestions by Bashir that the first alleged kiss didn’t happen. “I know the kiss happened because I can’t get it out of my memory,” he said. He has alleged Jones kissed him on the corner of the mouth at a function in Sydney about a decade ago.
- He also rejected Bashir’s suggestion the second kiss, said to have occurred at Jones’ home in Sydney, didn’t happen. “Unfortunately for me, I’ve had to replay this moment in my head of what happened, and I recall what happened very specifically,” he said.
- Bashir put to “M” that Jones was isolating at his farm at Fitzroy Falls during the COVID-19 pandemic on the date the complainant has suggested the second kiss occurred. “I suggest there was no meeting between you and Alan Jones on the evening [of the alleged kiss],” Bashir said. “I believe there was,” “M” responded. He said later he was “not 100 per cent certain of the date”.
- Asked about friendly text messages the pair exchanged after the first alleged kiss, in which “M” said “lots of love” and Jones said “big big kisses forever”, the complainant said: “I wanted the kiss that happened to have never happened, so in my mind, I don’t know why it’s happened and this is why in some ways I feel as though I’m deflecting … I wanted things to go back to normal.”
- The complainant agreed he sent Jones a shirtless photo of himself on another occasion, while he was in Paris. The court heard Jones responded: “I love the photo. I love you. I want to kiss you for hours. That is beautiful. We must catch up xxxxxx.” “M” did not immediately reply to that message, and Jones followed up with a message saying he hoped his earlier text did not upset him. “M” responded: “Not at all mate, it’s nice to be loved.”
- “M” said that by using the word “mate” he was trying to make sure “this is not perceived to be any other relationship”. He agreed that he was hoping Jones had not perceived the shirtless photo text as “anything flirty”.
- The complainant said he did not recall seeing Jones between the event in Sydney and the last time he saw Jones, some years later, when he alleges the broadcaster kissed him non-consensually at his harbourside apartment. However, after being shown text messages, he agreed he had. “This is a long time ago and as more information comes through, I realise that I had seen him,” he said.
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.
That’s the end of today’s evidence.
Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, has completed her cross-examination of “M”.
Prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, has indicated there will be some short re-examination of the complainant tomorrow morning.
Later tomorrow, it is expected the court will hear from other witnesses related to “M”.
Bashir has suggested that “M” gave a different account of the alleged apartment kiss in his police statements compared with his evidence in court.
“M” agreed that during his evidence-in-chief, he said that Jones began kissing him from his cheek to the corner of his mouth and that the kisses were interrupted with Jones saying “I love you so much”.
“That account of kisses back forth between speaking was different to the account in your statement of the alleged kiss, wasn’t it?” Bashir asked.
“M” asked to see his first statement, before agreeing that there was no mention of Jones speaking in between kisses. He agreed this detail was not in any of his statements.
Bashir asked if the first time he said anything about speaking interrupting kisses was in court this week. He said that may be the case.
However, he rejected Bashir’s suggestion that the kissing never happened.
“Unfortunately for me, I’ve had to replay this moment in my head of what happened, and I recall what happened very specifically.”
“M” has been shown a sketch he drew of the lounge room of Alan Jones’ Macquarie Street apartment, which he gave to police.
Bashir is repeating to him lines from his police statements about the alleged kiss, including where he and Jones were positioned.
There is a second date that “M” told police in his statement may have been the date the apartment kiss happened.
“M” said just now that this date was less likely to be the correct date.
“I suggest that while you may have seen him on [the second alleged date] that he did not kiss you on that date,” Bashir said.
“M” responded: “As I’ve stated before, I do not know if I saw him on that date or if I did not.”
The two dates in question are less than a month apart.
“M” is back in the witness box. The timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic has become the focus of Bashir’s line of questioning as she accuses “M” of fabricating his allegation of the apartment kiss.
She suggested Jones was isolating in his Fitzroy Falls farm and broadcasting his 2GB show remotely on the day that “M” alleged to police and the court that Jones kissed him without his consent in his Circular Quay apartment.
The complainant accepted Jones would have been classified at high risk of suffering complications from the virus, but said he did not know if it was true or not that he was isolating in Fitzroy Falls at the time.
“I suggest there was no meeting between you and Alan Jones on the evening [of the alleged kiss],” Bashir said.
Evidence has paused for a short legal argument. We’ll bring you the latest update when “M” resumes testifying.
Court has resumed following the lunch break and Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, has begun questioning complainant “M” about the second alleged kiss.
“M” alleges this kiss occurred inside Alan Jones’ harbourside apartment in Circular Quay, several years after the first alleged kiss at the Sydney function. Jones denies these events happened.
Bashir is going through pages of text messages and calendar entries to cross-examine the complainant on his account of when the apartment kiss happened.
While court takes a break for lunch, here’s a recap of the evidence given by complainant “M” this morning.
Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, has been cross-examining “M” about his interactions with the broadcaster around the time he alleges the then 2GB host kissed him non-consensually at an event in Sydney. Jones denies any of the physical acts alleged in the trial occurred.
- “M” rejected suggestions by Bashir that the alleged kiss didn’t happen. “I know the kiss happened because I can’t get it out of my memory,” he said. “What I may not be able to give is who was sitting at my table [and] at which direction something may have happened.”
- Asked about friendly text messages the pair exchanged after the event, in which “M” said “lots of love” and Jones said “big big kisses forever”, the complainant said: “I wanted the kiss that happened to have never happened, so in my mind, I don’t know why it’s happened and this is why in some ways I feel as though I’m deflecting … I wanted things to go back to normal.”
- The complainant agreed he sent Jones a shirtless photo of himself on another occasion, while he was in Paris. The court heard Jones responded: “I love the photo. I love you. I want to kiss you for hours. That is beautiful. We must catch up xxxxxx.” “M” did not immediately reply to that message, and Jones followed up with a message saying he hoped his earlier text did not upset him. “M” responded: “Not at all mate, it’s nice to be loved.”
- “M” said that by using the word “mate” he was trying to make sure “this is not perceived to be any other relationship”. He agreed that he was hoping Jones had not perceived the shirtless photo text as “anything flirty”.
- The complainant said he did not recall seeing Jones between the event in Sydney and the last time he saw Jones, some years later, when he alleges the broadcaster kissed him non-consensually at his harbourside apartment. However, after being shown text messages, he agreed he had. “This is a long time ago and as more information comes through, I realise that I had seen him,” he said.
Evidence has paused for the lunch break. “M” will be back in the witness box at 2pm.
