Alan Jones accuser’s mum ‘in shock’ over allegations
Adelaide Lang |
An athlete’s mother says she was left in shock when her son alleged he had been indecently assaulted by veteran broadcaster Alan Jones.
The athlete, now in his 40s, is one of six men who allege Jones kissed, groped or subjected them to sexual misconduct between 2003 and 2020 across Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching without consent.
Nine of those charges relate to the athlete, who testified he met the longtime shock jock when he was about 14 and was subjected to an unwanted kiss when aged 18.
His mother told the court he had initially lied to her when she asked him if Jones had touched him or done anything to him.
“He lied – he said no,” she said on Thursday.
The athlete admitted as much a year later when he told his mother the former Wallabies coach had inappropriately touched him, the woman testified.
The report left her “in shock”.
“I’m sorry that happened, I should have protected you,” she says she told her son.
The athlete previously said he had initially lied because he thought she would make him go to police, when he wasn’t ready.
He spoke to her and his brother about the allegations after he went to police in 2024, the court was told.
But he allegedly did make a contemporaneous report – to his then-girlfriend after returning from an overnight stay at Jones’s home in the NSW Southern Highlands.
The former radio host allegedly indecently assaulted the athlete – four decades his junior – six times during the trip, including while the younger man was driving.
“Alan Jones sexually touched me,” his ex-girlfriend recalled him saying when he came to her house straight afterwards.
When she asked if he wanted to report the matter to police, the athlete allegedly swore her to secrecy.
During her second day in the witness box, the ex-girlfriend denied repeated suggestions from Jones’s barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC the conversation had never happened.
“No, I remember that clearly,” she said staunchly.
The couple broke up but later reconnected, with the athlete reaching out to her in relation to the alleged indecent assaults in 2024 after Jones was arrested.
“I’d like to come forward and tell my truth,” he allegedly told his ex-girlfriend.
After she had given her statement to police, the athlete thanked her for doing “something that will change my life forever and for the better”.
“Once it’s all over, I promise I’ll look after you,” he wrote.
The athlete has denied it was a promise to provide her with a financial reward for providing a statement in support of his complaint.
His ex-girlfriend similarly said she didn’t understand the message as an offer of financial assistance.
“It does look like that,” she told the court.
“But it never crossed my mind.
“I know he didn’t mean that either.”
The athlete’s mother marked the conclusion of the witnesses related to his evidence.
On Friday, a second complainant will allege Jones indecently assaulted him eight times in a year.
All of the allegations against the former Wallabies coach are said to have occurred at a time when he had a stranglehold on Sydney’s airwaves, winning the breakfast slot a record 226 times.
During his 35 years as a radio presenter, Jones became a feared interviewer capable of grilling leaders while sharing his outspoken, conservative views across the country.
He 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
AAP