S1: Is Alan Jones guilty of multiple counts of indecent assault?
S1: Or are the allegations against him by six men the
S1: result of treachery, desperation and opportunism, as Jones barrister has argued?
S1: I'm Samantha Selinger Morris and you're listening to The Morning
S1: Edition from The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. Today,
S1: crime reporter Claire Sibthorpe on the allegations aired in court
S1: so far in the trial of Alan Jones, which began
S1: this week. And what we can expect in this unusual trial.
S2: Claire, welcome to the podcast. Thanks so much. Glad to
S2: be here. Now, you were there on the first day
S2: of Alan Jones's trial. This was on Monday. So can
S2: you just tell us what the scene was like when
S2: he arrived at the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.
S2: And I guess what his demeanor was like during the day.
S3: Absolutely. So Alan Jones arrived at court in a black BMW.
S3: He was accompanied by his lawyer, Bryan Wrench.
S4: It's been dubbed the Trial of the year. Former broadcaster
S4: Alan Jones accused of indecent assault and sexual touching charges.
S5: A veteran of 35 years behind the microphone, Alan Jones
S5: was silent today.
S6: Almost all the news rather than be reporting on it. No,
S6: don't worry about it. We're just going to keep walking.
S7: Don't have anything more to say about how you plan
S7: to defend. Do you think you'll be here for every
S7: day of the trial? Will you continue to maintain your innocence, sir?
S3: We navigated quite a thick media scrum, as you can imagine,
S3: but made his way very slowly into the Downing Centre
S3: Court complex. He arrives actually, not too long before the
S3: proceedings kicked off at 10 a.m. he used a cane
S3: and he did greet a few journalists among the very
S3: long queue waiting to get inside court 3.1. Now, once
S3: he was inside the court, he sat in a special chair,
S3: flanked by his group of high profile lawyers, and he
S3: sat waiting for the judge, looking out into the distance, um,
S3: quite fidgety, twirling his cane. And, you know, it wasn't
S3: clear if he was nervous or impatient, but he was
S3: definitely moving around a little bit. He sort of swapped
S3: between writing notes and just staring out into the distance,
S3: pursed lips occasionally actually nodding off. Um, near the end
S3: of the day, I mean, let's remember he is 85
S3: and he does have to appear every day for this trial.
S3: So it'll be interesting to see, you know, his demeanour.
S2: And just before we get to the trial itself, can
S2: you just rewind a little bit and just remind all
S2: of us really how we got here? Because Alan Jones was,
S2: you know, once one of the most powerful people in
S2: Australian media. So I guess just briefly, how did he
S2: amass so much power and influence with media, with politicians
S2: and the, you know, general public.
S3: So he amassed that power over a very long, several
S3: decades career in radio before retiring from TB in May 2020.
S3: He wielded a massive amount of political, social and commercial
S3: power in Australia. He actually started his career as a teacher.
S3: He was a political candidate at the time. He was
S3: a speechwriter coach of the Australian National Rugby Union team,
S3: and then he dominated Sydney Breakfast Radio for 35 years.
S3: A single rant on his show could trigger a swathe
S3: of calls to parliamentarians, influence policy and sway election margins. Now,
S3: some would say that Jones's power stemmed partly from political
S3: fear rather than respect, and his time on the airwaves
S3: was not without quite a few controversies. Now, when he
S3: announced his retirement in 2020, he had had a lot
S3: of his controversies quite recently. but he told listeners it
S3: was due to health concerns from the detrimental workload that
S3: he had been carrying.
S8: Okay.
S2: And then Jones was then arrested back in November 2024.
S2: So can you just tell us about the police investigation,
S2: the arrest and the charges that were brought against him?
S3: Yeah. So it was actually a 2023 investigation by the
S3: Herald's chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont. Now, her investigation sparked
S3: the secret creation of Strike Force Bonython, run by the
S3: State Crime Command, Child Abuse and Sex Crimes Squad. Big
S3: name there. So that investigation, Strike Force Bonython spent the
S3: next year examining the former TV broadcaster. Then in November 2024,
S3: detectives swooped in on Jones at his luxury harbourside apartment
S3: in Circular Quay. They seized his devices and arrested him.
S9: First, some news just in New South Wales. Police have
S9: arrested veteran broadcaster Alan Jones following an investigation into alleged
S9: indecent assault and sexual touching offences spanning two decades.
S10: At 745 this morning. The Child Abuse Squad came knocking
S10: on the door of his $20 million apartment in the
S10: toaster at Circular Quay. The raid first making headlines on
S10: the radio station.
S3: Fast forward to now. Alan Jones faces 22 charges against
S3: six complainants, and this spans from 2003 to 2020. There
S3: were some changes in the number of charges and the
S3: types of charges and the number of complainants, but that's
S3: where we're at today as the trial starts. Now. At
S3: the time of the alleged incidents, the complainants ranged in
S3: age from 17 to their early 30s. Of course, Jones
S3: maintains his innocence and is defending all of the charges
S3: at his trial. Two of the charges are sexual touching
S3: without consent and the rest of them are indecent assault.
S3: The accusations include unsolicited and unwanted touching of the alleged
S3: victim's genitals or their bottom and kissing their lips. Some
S3: of these alleged incidents took place in private, such as
S3: inside Jones's workplace, his Circular Quay apartment and his Fitzroy
S3: Falls farm, while others actually allegedly occurred in public at
S3: fundraising events and even at a Lower North Shore restaurant.
S2: Okay, so this is a long time coming before we
S2: get to the trial itself, which of course began this week.
S2: So tell us a bit about how the prosecution is
S2: trying to form its case.
S3: So obviously there are quite a few charges. We've got
S3: 22 as I just said. And what the Crown is
S3: seeking to rely upon is types of circumstantial evidence. Now
S3: this is known as tendency. Well, there's two tendency and coincidence.
S3: So what the Crown is alleging is that Jones had
S3: a tendency to act on a sexual interest in significantly
S3: younger men, and he acted on this by touching them
S3: in a professional or social context without their consent. The
S3: coincidence evidence seeks to draw on what the Crown has
S3: identified as similarities in the complainants allegations. Basically, they're arguing
S3: that these similarities demonstrate the improbability that two or more
S3: men unknown to each other, could fabricate such reports of
S3: similar allegations against the same person, coincidentally.
S2: And we know that Alan Jones, he's entitled to the
S2: presumption of innocence, and the prosecution has to prove that
S2: the alleged indecent assault and sexual touching offenses, they've got
S2: to prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. Right. So I
S2: guess take us to the Alan Jones side, because his
S2: lead barrister gave an opening address on Monday. I think
S2: it's safe to say she didn't hold back. So tell
S2: us what she said, what might be their approach to,
S2: you know, presenting their case.
S3: She definitely didn't hold back. You're right there Samantha. So
S3: Alan Jones's lead barrister is Gabrielle Bashir SC. She went
S3: straight into it with some very strong language. Her opening
S3: line was rivalry, treachery, double dealing, money, hatred, desperation, opportunism
S3: and more are all at the heart of this case. So,
S3: she alleges one complainant rewrote the history of his relationship
S3: with Jones. She also claims that Jones's former two DB
S3: stable mate Ray Hadley, helped fuel media reports about the
S3: allegations as part of this wider trial by media attack,
S3: which included other journalists, including the Herald's Kate McClymont. Now,
S3: Bashir told the court that rumours and media coverage are
S3: at the heart of more than a reasonable possibility of
S3: contamination or reconstruction in this case. She said that the
S3: credibility and reliability of the complainants will be tested in
S3: a lengthy trial.
S1: After the break.
S3: Now, when the young man was explaining this allegation of
S3: being indecently assaulted inside Jones's car while they were driving
S3: to his farm, it was it was, I would say,
S3: quite explosive.
S2: Now, we're recording this early in the morning on Tuesday,
S2: just before the second day of the trial commences. But
S2: on the first day, we heard some explosive testimony from
S2: a person known as complainant J. So can you just
S2: tell us about who he is and the account that
S2: he gave of his allegations against Ellen Jones?
S3: Yes. So complainant J was the only person that we
S3: heard from in terms of testimony yesterday. We heard the
S3: opening addresses from the Crown and Defence, and then we
S3: moved on to complainant J who was halfway through his
S3: evidence at the moment. So nine of the 22 allegations
S3: against Jones relate to complainant J. He was a young
S3: athlete at the time. He told the court that he
S3: was 14 or 15 when he met Jones, after the
S3: two GB hosts reached out to him to interview him
S3: about a sporting achievement. Now the alleged offences began some
S3: years later when he was in year 12. Jones allegedly
S3: lavished gifts today, including a car and a mobile phone,
S3: before indecently assaulting him several times and paying him hundreds
S3: of dollars a week. Jones allegedly kissed and touched complainant
S3: J in his harborside apartment at his Fitzroy Falls farm
S3: and inside a car while the young man was driving. Now,
S3: when the young man was explaining this allegation of being
S3: indecently assaulted inside Jones's car while they were driving to
S3: his farm, it was it was, I would say, quite explosive.
S3: I mean, he was alleging that the assault caused him
S3: to veer off the road, which I imagine would have
S3: been quite scary. Now the man described conflicting feelings of
S3: fear towards Jones, but also gratitude for his support. He
S3: came from quite a difficult upbringing, and he hadn't had
S3: a mobile phone before, and he was gifted a car,
S3: and he obviously appreciated these gifts. But at the same time,
S3: he was fearful of Jones and his power and he
S3: was fearful to speak out. And so.
S8: I guess, what can we expect.
S2: From the rest of the trial, and who else are
S2: we expecting to hear from.
S3: With this local court trial, which is actually expected to
S3: last until close to Christmas. It's not really known how
S3: it will all fold out. Now we know we have
S3: several months of evidence. We know there are more than
S3: 70 witnesses that are expected to be called, but the
S3: order of those witnesses is unclear at the moment. As
S3: I said, we're halfway through day's evidence, so he will
S3: be cross-examined by the defense when he finishes his evidence
S3: in chief. And then the Crown will continue to call
S3: different witnesses, and then it will move on to the
S3: defense's case.
S8: And just to wrap up, Claire, this.
S2: Is a judge only trial. So is that unusual? And
S2: I guess what does that mean, if anything, for Alan Jones?
S3: It is quite unusual for a trial of this type
S3: and length to be held in a lower local court.
S3: What it means is that Jones will not be facing
S3: a jury, as he probably would have done in a
S3: higher court, and instead will face local court judge Glen Walsh,
S3: who will decide his fate. Now the decision for the
S3: Crown to prosecute in the lower court was able to
S3: be made, because some of the more serious features of
S3: some of the charges were withdrawn, meaning the charges were
S3: low enough in legal terms, of course, to be held
S3: in the local court. Now, Judge Walsh will decide whether
S3: the prosecution has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Jones is
S3: guilty on each offence. So remember, he has to make
S3: a decision on each of the 22 offences and then
S3: later down the track, he will decide any sentence in
S3: the event of a conviction.
S2: Well, thank you so much, Clare for your time.
S3: Thank you so much for having me. It was great
S3: to chat.
S1: In other news, Qantas is considering outsourcing up to 1000
S1: roles to India as part of a deal with consulting
S1: giant Accenture that looks to harness the power of artificial intelligence.
S1: Gambling industry representatives have rejected explosive claims about addicts being
S1: offered drugs and escorts through company VIP programs. At the
S1: Senate inquiry probing the Albanese government's proposed gambling reform and
S1: rising Liberal star Andrew Hastie says he hopes to receive
S1: One Nation preferences at the next election after acknowledging his
S1: own political mortality, despite previously vowing to never bend the
S1: knee to Pauline Hanson. You can read more at the
S1: age.com.au or smh.com.au. Today's episode was produced by Kai Wong.
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