Source : Perth Now news
High-profile broadcaster Ray Hadley disparaged a former on-air colleague in a profane text exchange with a man accusing Alan Jones of indecent assault.
The man claimed Jones repeatedly kissed him without consent in a lift at his home and workplace and groped him in a car and at an event over five months when they worked together.
Jones, now 85, has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching without consent against six men between 2003 and 2023 in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands.
The former radio staffer previously told a NSW Local Court he had been at an event with colleagues when the veteran broadcaster groped his groin under a table.
He felt self-conscious and worried people would see what Jones was doing to him, telling the court: “I didn’t want them thinking I was Alan’s toy”.
The former radio staffer said he locked eyes with another broadcaster at the station while Jones was touching him under the table, leaving him deeply embarrassed.
But texts years later with the since-retired 2GB radio host and rugby league commentator Ray Hadley discussed how the other broadcaster had denied seeing anything untoward at the event, the court was told on Wednesday.
The broadcaster had begun working with Jones, according to an article the former radio staffer sent Hadley, saying: “Surprise f***ing surprise”.
Hadley responded the other man was “a f***ing dog”, the court was told.
“Explains why he lied to (journalist) Kate (McClymont) about what he saw Jones do to me. Dog by the very definition, ” the former radio staffer replied.
Under cross-examination by Jones’s barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC, he accepted he was aware the broadcaster denied seeing the alleged groping but added he didn’t know if the man had told McClymont the truth.
Hadley was one of the people in whom the former radio staffer confided about the alleged indecent assaults, years after they were said to have occurred.
“I said, ‘You know we joke a bit about it, but you know some of the stuff (Jones) did to me was quite f***ed up’,” the former staffer said.
“Ray asked if I was OK … I just broke down sobbing.
I said: ‘He’s a f***ing grub’.”
While sworn to secrecy, Hadley put the staffer in touch with journalist Peter FitzSimons, who was researching similar allegations about Jones, the court was told.
The former radio staffer said he wanted FitzSimons to know there was truth to the allegations but didn’t want to tell his story publicly.
Hadley is expected to enter the witness box at some stage after the former radio staffer completes his testimony.
On Wednesday, the staffer accepted there were inconsistencies between his police statements about the alleged assaults and his testimony in court.
In one account, he said he had frozen when Jones first touched his groin while he was driving, but in another he recalled pushing the older man’s hand away.
The former radio staffer insisted he was doing his best to recall events from decades ago and repeatedly denied inventing any of the allegations against Jones.
He rejected Ms Bashir’s suggestion he could have pushed the longtime shock jock off, saying: “I didn’t feel I was able to physically resist him”.
The former radio staffer claimed on Tuesday he had been groomed by Jones for a decade, leading to a series of explicit texts.
Ms Bashir has accused him of rewriting his history with Jones.
Jones has denied all of the alleged indecent assaults, which are alleged to have occurred during the latter part of his 35-year broadcasting career, when he dominated Sydney’s airwaves.
None of the charges allege grooming.
Jones also broadcast to a national audience for years as a regular commentator on Nine’s Today show and a host of a political discussion show on Sky News.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
