Accuser tells court Alan Jones was 'generous' for many years

Complainant tells court Alan Jones was 'generous' but still feels 'shame' over alleged assault In short: A man who claims broadcaster Alan Jones kissed him when he was 17 tells a court he still feels "shame" years later. Complainant A also admitted in court that he lied to hospital staff and police about the timing of an unrelated assault by a different person. What's next? Mr Jones's trial has been delayed temporarily due to illness in the defence team, but will return on November 2. A man who alleges Alan Jones kissed him when he was a 17-year-old schoolboy has told a court the broadcaster was very "generous" to him for many years, but he still feels shame over the alleged assault years later. Complainant A finished giving evidence in Mr Jones's judge-alone criminal trial earlier this month, having accused Mr Jones of kissing and touching him almost a decade ago during a visit to one of the broadcaster's properties. Mr Jones has pleaded not guilty to all 21 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching made by five male complainants. Judge Glenn Walsh had made an interim non-publication order over part of the complainant's cross-examination, but some of that evidence can now be published, including the complainant's admission that he "lied" to police about an unrelated incident. Complainant A was questioned by Mr Jones's defence team for five days and has at times had testy exchanges with defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC as she attempted to attack his credibility. The man, now in his 20s, has told the court Mr Jones invited him to his Fitzroy Falls property in the NSW Southern Highlands and assaulted him at night after two other guests had left, by kissing him and touching his bottom. Ms Bashir put to the witness that he was fabricating a kiss and in fact the pair simply hugged and went to bed. "Alan Jones did not kiss you on the mouth, did he?" Ms Bashir asked. "That's not a true statement, Ms Bashir," Complainant A replied. "You and Mr Jones hugged goodnight and nothing more… that's correct, isn't it?" "No, Ms Bashir, that is not correct." The trial was told the complainant was called into his school principal's office about 11 months after the alleged assault and there were police officers waiting. The complainant gave evidence that he did not contact police but assumed his mother had, because he had written her a note in the days following the alleged assault explaining that "something sexual" had happened at Mr Jones's property. Ms Bashir put to the complainant that he did not share details of the allegation on that day. "I hate talking about this, Ms Bashir, so I wasn't about to talk about this in front of the principal," Complainant A replied. "I still feel a lot of shame." Complainant's later 'lie' to police Complainant A also admitted in court that he lied to hospital staff and police about the timing of an unrelated assault by a different person, which allegedly happened some years after the alleged assault by Mr Jones. The court was shown police body-worn footage of a police interview, in which Complainant A, who had dried blood visible on his forehead, told an officer he had been injured when he intervened in an "altercation" the previous day. But Complainant A agreed under cross-examination that in that interview, he was not telling police the truth about the timing of the alleged assault. The court heard Complainant A later told police he was in fact assaulted about two weeks earlier, and admitted to detectives he had returned to the scene of the alleged assault and created new injuries himself, before presenting to hospital. In a tense line of cross-examination, Ms Bashir asked the witness several times to concede that he initially lied to police and hospital staff. "Any assertions by you that your injuries were occasioned by an assault on the [previous day] were lies, weren't they?" Ms Bashir asked. "Yeah, no assault had occurred on [that date]," Complainant A replied. "So they were lies?" Ms Bashir put to the witness. "That is correct," he agreed. He told the court he was assaulted, but on a different date from what he first told police, and that he manipulated the injuries a day before presenting to hospital because he "wanted to be believed". Ms Bashir accused the complainant of having a "selective view of the truth", which the man denied. Complainant A's first contact with police Complainant A made two police statements detailing his allegations against Mr Jones the year after the alleged assault, the trial was told, but the second statement said that he did not want to proceed with an investigation at that time. He made a third statement to police in 2024, six months before Mr Jones was arrested. The court has previously heard Complainant A and his single mother received substantial financial benefit from Mr Jones over many years, after the complainant, then 13 years old, reached out to the radio host for help. The defence has accused the complainant of trying to "obtain as much financial assistance as possible" from the broadcaster, something the complainant has denied. The court heard the complainant's mother took her then school-aged son to New York, and asked the boy in an email not to mention the trip to Mr Jones. "You understood that that New York trip was inconsistent with the financial circumstances that you and your mother you were representing to Alan Jones?" Ms Bashir asked. "That's not true," Complainant A replied. The court also heard that less than a year after the alleged assault at Fitzroy Falls, Mr Jones emailed the acting dean of a university course, asking him to reconsider his rejection of the complainant's entrance application. Ms Bashir suggested the complainant continued to accept help from her client, and his mother continued to accept financial assistance, following the alleged assault. "Mr Jones has been nothing but kind and generous to you, hasn't he?" Ms Bashir asked. "Mr Jones has been generous to me over the years," Complainant A said. "But the word 'nothing' is not correct." Mr Jones's trial has been delayed temporarily due to illness in the defence team, but will return on November 2.