Colleagues joked Alan Jones and a radio station staffer looked like “a great couple” after the longtime shock jock allegedly groped the younger man at an event.
Jones, the 85-year-old former ruler of Sydney’s airwaves, has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against six men.
The criminal charges relate to alleged incidents between 2003 and 2020 at locations in Sydney and the NSW Southern Highlands.
Eight of the charges relate to a former radio staffer, who claims Jones repeatedly kissed and groped him without consent during a five-month period when they worked together.
He alleges the former Wallabies coach sat next to him at a work event and placed his hand on the younger man’s upper thigh and groin for most of the meal.
Another broadcaster at the station told the court on Monday he hadn’t seen anything that worried him at the event, describing the former radio staffer as yearning to be at the “fun end of the table”.
He recalled seeing Jones with his arm around the former radio staffer’s shoulder in a way that suggested he was talking about the younger man.
“Some people joked about how they looked like a great couple,” the broadcaster said, later clarifying the remark had been made sarcastically.
“It wasn’t anything other than just banter.”
He said he wasn’t sure who said the pair looked like a couple, but it could have been him.
“I don’t remember anything being said that was horrible or harmful,” the broadcaster told the court.
He will return to the witness box on Tuesday after his testimony was interrupted by a legal issue.
The broadcaster is one of multiple witnesses called to give evidence about the event at which Jones is accused of indecent assault.
The former radio staffer previously said he felt self-conscious and worried people would see what Jones was doing under the table.
“I didn’t want them thinking I was Alan’s toy,” he told the court.
Jones’s barrister accused the former radio staffer of rewriting his history with the conservative commentator and fabricating the allegations, which he rejected.
The former radio staffer was the second of six complainants to enter the witness box as Jones’s marathon court battle enters its fourth week.
The controversial ex-radio host has denied all of the indecent assaults, which are alleged to have occurred during the latter part of his 35-year broadcasting career.
He rose to prominence after careers in teaching, rugby union, a failed tilt at politics, and speechwriting.
Jones 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
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