Alan Jones trial: Broadcaster allegedly paid teen $110,000 over decade, court hears

Alan Jones walked into court on Monday as a man accustomed to dominating rooms. At eighty-five, the former radio broadcaster had spent decades commanding the airwaves, his voice reaching millions, his opinions shaping public conversation. Inside the courtroom at Downing Centre, that authority evaporated. He now faces twenty-two charges of indecent assault across six complainants. On day two of the trial, a man identified only as J returned to the witness stand to describe a relationship that began when he was fourteen—a gifted young athlete whom Jones praised and, he alleges, systematically groomed.

J told the court that the financial support started almost immediately. When he was seventeen, Jones began depositing money into his bank account: four hundred dollars a week at first, with instructions not to tell anyone because it was a gift. The payments grew over nearly a decade. By March 2004, they had increased to five hundred dollars weekly. By the time they stopped in October 2012, J was receiving six hundred dollars a week. A letter from Jones's company, presented in court, documented the total: one hundred and ten thousand dollars across almost ten years. The payments ended only after Jones's accountant contacted J to say they would cease. By then, J was no longer competing as an athlete. He was injured. The text messages still came occasionally—"I love you"—but the contact had thinned.

What made the money difficult to refuse, J explained to the court, was what it represented. He came from a small family. This was a wonderful life being handed to him. His coach never learned of the alleged assaults because J believed he would lose everything if he spoke. The financial dependence and the fear of losing his athletic future became, in his own words, a tactic that kept him silent.

The alleged assaults themselves, as J described them, were calculated and escalating. One occurred while he was driving Jones to his Fitzroy Falls property. Jones grabbed him over his pants, then under his underwear. When they arrived, Jones kissed him without warning. Another incident happened at Jones's Macquarie Street apartment. J had gone there intending to stand up to Jones, to say no to everything. But when he arrived, Jones criticized his appearance—his clothes, his hair, his teeth—then gave him five hundred dollars in cash to buy new clothes. When J returned wearing them, Jones said it was wonderful, a million times better. After dinner, Jones told him he loved him and kissed him. J froze. He had planned to resist. Being in the room with someone he saw as so powerful, someone he believed no one would believe him against, he simply could not move.

At the Fitzroy Falls property, the allegations became more graphic. After dinner, Jones told J to shower and come out wearing only a robe. J put underwear on beneath it because, he told the court, he almost knew what was going to happen. Jones was waiting in a robe, drinking wine. He looked J straight in the eye and said quietly, calmly, "I said the robe and nothing." Then he put his hand on J's penis and began rubbing it. Later that evening, after they had watched television and discussed sport, J said he was tired and going to bed. Jones came to his room. He said he loved him and pulled him into a cuddle. Then, J testified, Jones groped him aggressively on the buttocks, undid his robe, pulled his underwear down, and began moving his body so their genitals would touch. J's heart was racing. He was as scared as he had ever been. When Jones placed his hand on his penis and began squeezing, J made a calculation: if he did it himself, it could be over faster. It could prevent Jones from touching him further. So he complied. He did not consent, he told the court. He was frozen.

J did not come forward until he saw on the news that Jones had been arrested on other allegations. He Googled the police station, got a detective's number, and made a statement. He told his brother he had come forward as a victim. Now, testifying in court, he said he was here because he is a father. He wants to teach his child right from wrong. He does not want money. He wants justice and the chance to tell his story so that if there are others, they might find the courage to speak too. The trial is expected to run for four months, with testimony from seventy-six witnesses across six complainants. Jones has denied all charges and argues the allegations are baseless or distorted. His defense team has suggested that media rivals influenced the complainants and that their credibility is questionable. The courtroom, for now, belongs to the voices of those who say they were silenced for years.