In a Sydney courtroom, a former athlete offered testimony about a moment from 2015 that he says has never released its hold on him — an unwanted kiss from broadcaster Alan Jones at an awards night that remains, in his words, seared into memory. The trial, now in its seventh week, asks the court to weigh the complexity of human behaviour against the clarity of legal fact, as Jones faces 22 charges brought by six men. What unfolds is not merely a contest of competing accounts, but a meditation on how people carry harm — sometimes in silence, sometimes through the very warmth they extend to those
Athlete testifies unwanted kiss from Alan Jones 'seared in memory' despite prior intimate messages
An alleged victim describes experiencing an unwanted kiss that caused lasting psychological impact, describing it as seared in his memory.
I wanted the kiss that happened to have never happened.
Mark
So the defence is arguing that because he sent a shirtless photo and was affectionate in texts afterward, the kiss couldn't have been unwanted. That's the strategy?
Mimi
That's part of it, yes. They're saying the prior intimacy and his warm messages after the event contradict his claim that the kiss was unwanted. But M is saying those messages don't prove anything about what happened that night.
Luke
Hold on—we should be clear about what we actually know. He sent the photo in response to a question from Jones. That's not the same as initiating intimate contact. And the texts afterward—he's explaining those as deflection, which is his interpretation. We don't have independent evidence of what his emotional state actually was.
Mimi
Right. He's saying he was shocked and embarrassed, but expressed it through continued friendliness. That's psychologically plausible, but it's also not something the court can verify independently.
Mark
What about the specific details of the night? The defence seemed to be picking apart his memory of where it happened.
Mimi
He admitted he couldn't recall the exact location, didn't mention it in his police statement. The defence is using that to suggest the whole thing is unreliable.
Luke
But that's a common feature of memory, especially for something that happened over a decade ago. The fact that he can't recall seating arrangements doesn't necessarily mean the core event didn't happen. We should distinguish between gaps in peripheral detail and gaps in the central claim.
Mark
So where does that leave the case?
Mimi
It leaves it on the question of whether you believe him when he says the kiss happened and affected him, despite everything else he said and did afterward.
Luke
And that's ultimately what the judge has to decide. The evidence here is his testimony against the defence's argument that his own behavior contradicts his account. There's no video, no other witness to that moment.
Mark
How many other complainants are there?
Mimi
Five others. M is the first to testify in open court. So the judge will hear from more people before deciding.
Luke
And that matters. If there's a pattern across multiple accounts, that carries weight. If this is isolated, it's a different question.
Le Pouls
- A man known only as complainant M told the court that a decade-old kiss from Alan Jones remains impossible to forget, no matter how much he wishes it had never happened.
- Defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir pressed hard on inconsistencies — gaps in seating arrangements, uncertain locations, and a shirtless photograph M had sent Jones from Paris months before the alleged incident.
- Jones's own message to M — 'I hope you can feel my kisses darling' — became a battleground, with the defence arguing it reflected mere affectionate language rather than evidence any physical kiss had occurred.
- M acknowledged the limits of his memory on peripheral details, but held firm on the central claim, describing his subsequent warm messages to Jones as a form of deflection rather than contradiction.
- With 22 charges across six alleged victims and five complainants still to testify, the trial's seventh week deepens into a sustained examination of how credibility is constructed — and dismantled — under cross-examination.
In a Sydney courtroom, a former athlete offered testimony about a moment from 2015 that he says has never released its hold on him — an unwanted kiss from broadcaster Alan Jones at an awards night that remains, in his words, seared into memory. The trial, now in its seventh week, asks the court to weigh the complexity of human behaviour against the clarity of legal fact, as Jones faces 22 charges brought by six men. What unfolds is not merely a contest of competing accounts, but a meditation on how people carry harm — sometimes in silence, sometimes through the very warmth they extend to those who have wronged them.
In a Sydney courtroom, a former athlete described a kiss from broadcaster Alan Jones at a 2015 awards night as something he cannot escape — a memory seared into him despite more than a decade passing. On his third day in the witness box, the man identified only as complainant M faced sustained cross-examination from defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir, who sought to find the places where his account did not hold together.
Bashir introduced a photograph M had sent Jones months before the alleged incident — a shirtless image taken in Paris, sent casually in response to a question about how he was getting on overseas. Jones had replied with striking warmth: 'I love the photo. I love you. I want to kiss you for hours.' The defence used this exchange to suggest the relationship between the two men was affectionate in ways that complicated M's account of an unwanted advance.
Messages sent after the awards night added further texture to the defence's argument. Jones wrote to M: 'I hope you can feel my kisses darling.' M replied warmly. Bashir suggested this was simply how Jones communicated — that the language did not confirm any physical kiss had taken place. M acknowledged he could not recall who sat at his table that night, nor pinpoint with certainty where the alleged kiss occurred, details he had not included in his police statements.
Yet M did not waver on the essential claim. He explained his continued warmth toward Jones as a kind of deflection — a way of managing something he wished had never happened rather than evidence it had not. 'I wanted the kiss that happened to have never have happened,' he told the court.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to all 22 charges — 20 counts of indecent assault and two of sexual touching — brought by six men. M was the first complainant to testify in open court and face Jones directly. Five others are still to be heard as the trial continues before judge Glenn Walsh.
In a Sydney courtroom on Thursday, a former athlete sat across from Alan Jones, the broadcaster who once commanded the airwaves at 2GB and 2UE, and described a moment that had never left him. More than a decade had passed since an alleged kiss at an awards night in 2015, but the man known in court as complainant M said the memory remained sharp—seared into him in a way he could not shake, no matter how much he wished he could.
The trial, now in its seventh week, hinges partly on questions of consistency and credibility. Jones faces 22 charges: 20 counts of indecent assault and two of sexual touching, spanning allegations from six men. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them. On Thursday, the defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir pressed M on the details of that night—where people sat, which direction Jones faced, the sequence of events. These are the tools of cross-examination: to find the gaps in a memory, the places where a story frays.
But Bashir also introduced a different kind of pressure. Months before the alleged kiss, M had sent Jones a shirtless photograph taken in Paris. The photo came in response to a casual question from Jones about how M was managing overseas. M had replied with the image and a simple caption: "this good, haha." It seemed to him a good photo, worth sharing. Jones responded with warmth and intensity: "I love the photo. I love you. I want to kiss you for hours. That is beautiful. We must catch up xxxxxx."
The defence used this exchange to suggest something fundamental about the relationship between the two men. If M had been willing to send such a photo, if he had received such messages and continued to engage with Jones affectionately afterward, how could the kiss have been unwanted? How could it have happened at all?
M's answer was direct. "I know the kiss happened because I can't get it out of my memory," he said on his third day in the witness box. When Bashir pointed to text messages he had sent Jones after the awards night—messages that seemed warm, even affectionate—M offered an explanation that spoke to something more complicated than simple yes or no. "I wanted the kiss that happened to have never have happened," he said. "In some ways I feel as though I am deflecting."
One of those messages came from Jones himself: "Great to see you. Sorry I didn't catch up after … You looked great. I love you, I hope you can feel my kisses darling xxxx." M had replied: "Nice to see you too. I had a very long day today and I am pleased to be in bed now. Thanks mate xoxo." Bashir suggested that the phrase "I hope you can feel my kisses" was simply how Jones spoke to him—affectionate language that did not necessarily mean a kiss had occurred.
When pressed on the specifics of the night itself, M acknowledged the limits of his memory. He could not recall who sat at his table. He could not say with certainty the exact location where the alleged kiss took place. He had not mentioned that specific location in his police statements. These gaps gave Bashir room to argue that the incident could not have happened anywhere, that the story did not hold together.
Yet M remained firm on the core claim. The kiss was real to him. It had marked him. The affectionate messages that followed, the deflection he described, the way he had continued to engage with Jones—these were not proof the kiss never happened. They were, perhaps, evidence of something else: the complexity of how people respond when they have experienced something they wish they had not, something that has lodged itself in their memory despite everything else they might say or do.
The trial continues before judge Glenn Walsh. M was the first complainant to testify in open court and face Jones directly, though media coverage proceeded from a separate location. Six men have made allegations against Jones. Five others remain to be heard.
Citations marquantes
I know the kiss happened because I can't get it out of my memory. I wanted the kiss that happened to have never have happened.— Complainant M, during cross-examination
In some ways I feel as though I am deflecting— Complainant M, explaining his affectionate messages after the alleged incident
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Crime & Justice