Warning: Graphic content
A man who has accused Alan Jones of touching him inappropriately under the table at a lunch in Sydney looked distraught and in shock at the event, a guest at the lunch has told a court.
Jones, 85, has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching relating to six male complainants between 2003 and 2020. He is standing trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court.
Of the 22 charges, eight counts of indecent assault relate to “C”, the second of six complainants to testify in the lengthy trial.
He has alleged Jones kissed him and touched him on the penis without his consent when he worked as a staffer to the broadcaster almost two decades ago in his early 20s.
“C” has previously testified that Jones sat next to him at the lunch at a lower north shore restaurant and placed his hand on his upper thigh or groin. The court heard former 2GB heavyweight Jason Morrison was also in attendance, and he is slated to give evidence at a later date.
Another guest at the lunch gave evidence on Friday that he was sitting at the table and could see in his peripheral vision Morrison and another man “sort of laughing; reacting to something”.
He said he looked across the table and saw Jones twirling a wine glass with his right hand while his left hand was underneath the table. The two people looked “startled [and] amused”, he said.
The man described looking over to complainant “C”, who was sitting next to Jones, and seeing that he was “distraught”.
“That’s probably the best word … he looked in shock, upset,” the witness said.
The man said he did not see what was happening under the table, only that Jones’ hand was under it.
After the lunch, the witness said, the group walked down to the restaurant lawn, near the carpark.
He said Morrison and the other man who had been laughing at the lunch began “ribbing” complainant “C”.
“It was either [one of them], they said, ‘You were copping a feel under table’,” the man said.
“C” has previously given evidence that the comment was made by the other man, not by Morrison.
The witness told prosecutor Georgina Wright, SC, that “C” was “shaking his head, saying ‘unbelievable’.”
“I remember thinking, something bad has happened,” the man testified.
Defence barrister Michael Burke cross-examined the man on his timeline of speaking to police and The Sydney Morning Herald chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont.
The man told Burke police called him in May 2024 and asked if he saw anything that raised concerns about Jones and that he said “yes”. The man said he told them about the alleged lunch incident.
Burke suggested to him that he did not tell police about the lunch in that call. He disagreed.
Burke put to him that he did not discuss the lunch with police until a detective messaged him in August 2024, saying they had identified him as a potential witness. Burke said they named the restaurant and time period.
The man later accepted he may not have said anything about the lunch before receiving this message.
Notes were tendered to court about a conference between “C” and prosecutors ahead of his testimony.
The court heard that prosecutors in the conference referenced a transcript of a conversation between “C” and McClymont in which they discussed allegations against Jones. The man told McClymont he never saw Jones put his hand under a table at a restaurant.
He told the court he had clarified to the prosecutors that he was speaking to McClymont about separate incidents involving different people.
The man agreed with Burke that he withheld information about “C” from McClymont during this conversation, adding it was because they were discussing other people.
Burke suggested the version of events at the lunch he had given in court was false and that when he told McClymont he never saw a touch from Jones under the table he had meant “never”.
“No, I’m going to tell the truth,” he said.
He denied he had reconstructed the version over time.
A second lunch guest gave evidence that the event was attended by various people from Jones’ orbit, including “people who looked after the admin of his life”.
Asked by Wright if he had seen any inappropriate behaviour by Jones at the event, he said: “No, I did not.”
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.
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