A former schoolboy athlete has told the Alan Jones trial he didn’t tell anyone the broadcaster was allegedly kissing him and touching his genitalia when he was a teenager because he was “fearful” of losing Jones’s financial support.
The man, known as complainant J, alleged that after he drove Jones to a function in Canberra and they were alone in the hotel room, Jones kissed him in a “smothering” way. After the drive back to Sydney, Jones allegedly said to him: “You’ve been a really good boy. I’m going to give you some more money.” His regular weekly stipend increased by $100, the court heard. J also said Jones told him he didn’t have to tell anyone he was giving him money as it was “a gift”.
The complainant said Jones always introduced him to people as being from “No 1 Struggle Street”, and he didn’t mind that.
The court heard the 2GB broadcaster befriended him when he was 14 after he broke an athletics record, and he went on to give the son of a single mother from the western suburbs a mobile phone, a car and up to $600 a week.
“I come from a small family, we struggled our whole lives, and I was getting everything handed to me, it was a wonderful life,” the man, who is now in his 40s, told day one of the Jones hearing.
“I thought if I told someone what was happening, I would lose everything.”
J said Jones first contacted him through his coach and invited him to visit him on multiple occasions, and initially he had no idea who Jones was.
Sign up for the Breaking News Australia emailJ told the court he caught the train to Circular Quay and visited Jones at his Macquarie Street apartment and they went out for a Chinese meal. After the meal, while they were watching tennis, Jones allegedly made comments about the size of an athlete’s penis. Jones said one sprinter had “a big cock”.
J said he took the “strange comment” as his cue to leave Jones’s apartment.
Jones gave him a hug and said “I love you mate”, J said. He told the court he replied with words to the effect of: “I love you too, you’ve done a lot for me.”
J alleged that Jones put his arm out for a “cuddle”.
“He pulled me slightly towards him and gave me a peck kiss on the lips,” the complainant told the court.
Prosecutor Georgina Wright asked J: “Did you consent to being kissed on the mouth that night?”
He replied: “No, I wasn’t given the opportunity.”
He didn’t kiss Jones back and “froze”.
J said the kiss lasted for “half a second” and afterwards Jones’s “demeanour changed immediately” from “passionate I love you” to “business mode”. “I walked out and got the train home,” he said.
J at the time had a girlfriend and had discussed that with Jones, the court was told.
Throughout his testimony, J tried to explain his conflicted relationship with Jones, and why he didn’t report the alleged indecent assaults at the time.
“I was fearful of him, but I was also accepting these things from him,” J said. “And I didn’t want to lose those things.
“The friendship, I would say, was tainted by the things that were going on. For me, it was a fearful relationship.”
Jones has denied all wrongdoing and said the allegations were either baseless or distorted the truth.
Jones’s defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC earlier argued the alleged victims in the case were egged on to complain by media rivals, and their reliability and credibility were questionable.
This included, Bashir alleged, shockjock Ray Hadley and Sydney Morning Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons.
Bashir alleged FitzSimons harboured an intense dislike of Jones and encouraged complainants to make complaints about Jones.
Bashir also alleged that FitzSimons passed information to the Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative reporter Kate McClymont.
“This story sold newspapers,” Bashir said. “Rivalry, treachery, double-dealing, money, hatred, desperation, opportunism and more are all at the heart of this case.”
J was the first of six complainants who were expected to give evidence of their alleged indecent assault by Jones, who is facing 22 charges. The trial at Downing Centre local court was expected to run for four months and hear from 76 witnesses.
The judge, Glenn Walsh, was expected to hear from the six men who the prosecution will argue were significantly younger when they were allegedly indecently assaulted by the now 85-year-old Jones between 2003 and 2020.
The trial continues.
