Witness reveals fears as trial opens

Warning: Graphic content

Alan Jones allegedly lavished gifts including a car and a mobile phone on a young athlete before indecently assaulting him and paying him hundreds of dollars a week, the former 2GB broadcaster’s criminal trial has heard.

More than two decades later, the man gave evidence in Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial on Monday, testifying that he feared at the time that he would “lose everything” if he spoke out against the influential radio host.

The man told the court he felt he had to accept that “it was going to be [his] life” and that every time he saw Jones alone he would be approached or kissed.

“I thought, I’m just going to have to deal with this, because for me I never had the comfort of financial support. I never had my own car … we struggled for a long time.”

Known as complainant “J”, the man described conflicting feelings of fear towards the now 85-year-old but gratitude for Jones’ support because he had faced a financially challenged upbringing.

Prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, alleged on the first day of Jones’ NSW Local Court trial in Sydney that the former media titan touched or kissed six men without their consent between 2003 and 2020.

‘Rivalry, treachery, double-dealing’

Jones emphatically denies the allegations, and his barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, said on Monday 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 Judge Glenn Walsh.

Bashir alleged that Jones’ former 2GB stablemate Ray Hadley passed on information to this masthead about one complainant that assisted with a major investigation on Jones. In March 2024, the sex crimes squad attached to NSW Police’s state crime command formed Strike Force Bonnefin in response to that reporting.

“Unfortunately, rumours and media coverage are at the heart of more than a reasonable possibility of contamination or reconstruction in this case,” Bashir said.

Alleged payments

Jones is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent. At the time of the alleged incidents, the complainants ranged in age from 17 to their early 30s, Wright said in her opening address.

Complainant J gave evidence on Monday that he met Jones when he was 14 or 15, after the 2GB host interviewed him about a sporting achievement. The alleged offences began some years later when he was in year 12, “J” said.

Jones is charged with eight counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual touching without consent in relation to “J”. The alleged incidents took place on four different days, the Crown alleges.

Several of the alleged offences against “J” involved unwanted kissing, the court heard, and Jones allegedly started paying the young athlete $400 a week in fortnightly instalments after the first alleged kiss at the broadcaster’s luxury harbourside apartment in Sydney.

“J” said Jones began paying him so he did not have to find a job and could focus on training.

“He also said I don’t have to tell anyone about [the financial help] because it’s a gift,” the man said.

‘A really good boy’

“J” told the court that Jones had increased the payments after one unwanted kiss during a trip to Canberra, and that the broadcaster had told him: “You’ve been a really good boy, I’m going to give you some more money.”

He could not remember how much more money he was paid, but Wright alleged during her opening address that the payments from Jones’ company to “J” increased over time from $400 to $600 a week.

During hours of testimony on Monday, “J” gave evidence that he froze during the first unwanted kiss in Sydney, and he was not given an opportunity to consent.

Asked if he told his coach after one kiss, the man said: “I didn’t tell him because if I told someone, then I’d lose everything.

‘I didn’t tell him because if I told someone, then I’d lose everything.’

Complainant “J”, giving evidence in Alan Jones’ criminal trial

“I came from a small family, and we’d struggled our whole lives. I was getting everything handed to me. It was a wonderful life.”

“J” gave evidence that at the end of his first meeting with Jones, years earlier, the radio host “held his arms out and gave me a cuddle”. At a later meeting, the broadcaster later gave him a box with a silver Nokia phone so they could keep in contact, “J” said.

“I didn’t have a mobile phone at the time. I said thank you – I was very grateful,” the man said.

Over the following months, Jones attended the man’s athletic events and invited him several times to his Circular Quay apartment, “J” said.

The complainant said that on one occasion before the alleged offences, his coach had told him he would receive a car and sponsorship. “J” thought he would be sponsored by Toyota, but was surprised when Jones asked him to meet him at a dealership to buy the vehicle for him.

The first alleged kiss

“J” gave evidence that Jones had taken him out for a Chinese meal before inviting him over to his apartment, where he kissed him for the first time.

The complainant said Jones made inappropriate remarks about a male player’s physique while they watched the tennis, and it made him uncomfortable. He said that when he got up to leave and go home, Jones stood up and hugged him.

“I put hands by my side but he still held both shoulders … and looked at me, slightly turned his head one way and said, ‘I love you mate’,” he said.

“I responded ‘I love you too, you’ve done a lot for me, I’m very grateful’. And then he moved in towards me, pulled me slightly towards him and gave me a peck, a kiss on the lips.”

As he stood there, frozen, Jones’ demeanour “changed immediately”, he said.

“It changed from a very passionate ‘I love you mate’ to ‘alright, you’ve gotta go and get your train’. It was almost changed straight into what I call business mode.”

The complainant told the court that Jones connected him with high-profile people, including a former prime minister he was seated next to at a function.

Alleged groping

Complainant “J” also gave evidence that Jones groped his penis during a later incident when the young man was driving the broadcaster to his farm in Fitzroy Falls, causing the complainant to veer off the road.

The man said he was driving downhill on one winding road when Jones, who had dozed off in the passenger seat, woke up acting “really panicky” and reached over to grab the young man’s inner thigh.

“He held his hand there and said ‘what’s happening? Slow down’,” the man said.

A short time later, Jones allegedly had the same “panicky” reaction to another turn, “J” said, but this time put his hand higher on the man’s leg.

The man said Jones pulled his penis out of his pants and squeezed it for several minutes, causing him pain.

The incident caused the man to veer off the road for a short period, he told the court.

“I had to straighten my car to get it back onto the road,” he said.

“I had one of the most powerful men in the country in the car and I had to focus on the road.”

He alleged Jones gave him a non-consensual “sloppy, chompy” kiss once they arrived at the property.

Jones told the man he loved him and asked if the kiss was OK, to which the man responded that he was not comfortable and he had never done anything like that with a man. Jones then responded that he would stop, “J” told the court.

“It went through my head heaps of times to call [a family member] to come and get me or stand up to the defendant and say ‘stop doing this’, but then … I was there for the night, I was almost stuck there, [I] was scared, and I didn’t want to lose everything.”

A former teacher, political candidate, speechwriter and Wallabies coach, Jones dominated Sydney breakfast radio for decades before he retired from 2GB in May 2020.

More than four years later, in November 2024, he was arrested and charged over allegations he indecently assaulted, groped or inappropriately touched a number of young men.

Evidence foreshadowed

Wright outlined some of the evidence expected to be given by the other five complainants.

Complainant “A”, who was 17 at the time of the alleged offence, is expected to say Jones put his tongue inside his mouth when he was visiting the broadcaster’s Fitzroy Falls property.

The mother of “A” is expected to give evidence that her son later wrote her a note that said something like “someone in power did something they should not have”.

Complainant “J”’s evidence continues on Tuesday.

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.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.