Overview
- Alan Jones, who has pleaded not guilty to 22 historical counts of indecent assault and sexual touching, is standing trial before Judge Glenn Walsh at Sydney’s Downing Centre with the first complainant, known as J, still under cross‑examination.
- The court lifted a two‑day non‑publication order on Thursday, allowing reporting of defence questions that probed J’s memory of dates, his police and personal records, and whether he sought payments from Jones.
- J told the court he was kissed and groped starting in his late teens at locations including Jones’s Circular Quay apartment, in a car and at the Fitzroy Falls property, and said Jones gave him a phone, a car and weekly payments over several years.
- Defence counsel Gabrielle Bashir has challenged J’s credibility by pointing to timeline inconsistencies, his past employment and financial troubles and messages to others, while J has repeatedly denied any financial motive for coming forward.
- The judge‑alone Local Court hearing will continue with further witnesses and legal argument, a process that will determine admissible evidence and could affect prospects for any civil claims because of time limits on historical cases.