Overview
- Prosecutors told the Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday that four indecent‑assault charges would be withdrawn, removing two complainants from the case.
- The change leaves 22 charges linked to six complainants and the defendant, Alan Jones, has pleaded not guilty and continues to deny the allegations.
- Crown lawyers have filed submissions seeking to admit tendency and coincidence evidence and to call witnesses who declined to give police statements as part of pretrial hearings.
- Judge Glenn Walsh has questioned whether he can hold a voir dire in the Local Court to decide those evidence disputes and the defence has dropped a prior challenge over the lawfulness of a police device seizure.
- A judge‑alone trial is due to start on August 3 and is expected to run for several months with roughly 76–87 witnesses listed, a schedule that will test how courts handle pattern evidence in historical sexual‑assault prosecutions.