Complainant 'M' continues testimony in Alan Jones trial

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Alan Jones’ criminal trial in the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney.

Jones, 85, is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent relating to six male complainants over a 17-year period from 2003 to 2020. He denies the alleged physical acts occurred.

Yesterday, the third of the six complainants, a former athlete dubbed “M”, started giving evidence.

“M” returns to the witness box today. Yesterday, he told the court:

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) or the Men’s Referral Service on 1300 766 491.

That’s the end of today’s evidence.

Defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC, will continue her cross-examination of complainant “M” on Thursday. The trial will not sit tomorrow.

Bashir has suggested there was another discrepancy between the complainant’s evidence-in-chief and his police statement about the alleged non-consensual kiss at the Sydney function.

The defence barrister put to him that there was no mention in the police statement of “M” having frozen.

“No, there’s not,” M said.

Bashir asked: “That word’s not used in any of your five statements, is it?”

“M” responded: “No, it’s not.”

Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, has asked “M” a series of questions about his statements to police about the alleged kiss at the Sydney function. The following exchange took place.

Bashir: “You didn’t mention being kissed on your lips or lip, did you?”

Bashir: “You didn’t say that on any of your five statements, did you?”

“M” has agreed with Bashir that he did not tell police in his statements that Jones kissed him on the lips or lip at the Sydney function.

Bashir took him to his evidence given yesterday in which he said: “He kissed me close to my lips, not on my cheek, the side of my lips … it was on the side part of the outer part of my lip, towards the cheek”.

He agreed he said this.

“And [you said] that ‘his mouth touched my lips’. Do you remember giving that evidence?” Bashir asked.

“Something similar to that, yes,” the man answered.

After detailed questioning by the defence about the complainant’s exact movements at the Sydney function, the following exchange has taken place.

Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC: “Alan Jones never kissed you at that [function], did he?”

Bashir: “Alan Jones has never kissed you at any [function], has he?”

“M” has been taken to photos of himself posing with others at the Sydney function, as well as a photo of the food menu and the function’s schedule.

Bashir is questioning “M” on what the different documents show to compare them with his evidence.

After showing “M” a series of photographs from the Sydney function where he alleges a non-consensual kiss took place, Bashir asked if he agreed the images suggest he was on stage between the entree and main meal.

“If the photographs that have been presented to me in this document are in chronological order, it would appear as though it’s in the first part of the evening,” the man responded.

She suggested that when “M” walked off the stage, he went to a different area of the event to have his photo taken.

“I don’t remember having my photo taken,” the former athlete responded.

Bashir said she will take him to more photos.

“M” has told the court Jones kissed him on the corner of his mouth while “M” walked back towards his dinner table, after he had been on stage. He said he saw Jones stand up from a separate table, move towards him and kiss him.

Complainant “M” is back in the witness box. He’s being asked by defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir, SC, about seating arrangements at the Sydney function where he alleges Jones kissed him non-consensually.

He was shown a photo of a table and asked if he accepted that certain guests, named in court, were sitting at his table. “I don’t know,” the complainant replied.

“I suggest they were placed in the position as marked,” Bashir said.

“They may have been,” “M” replied.

Bashir suggested that they were eating their entree at the time of the photo, while “M” suggested it could have been dessert.

Court has reconvened after lunch, but the hearing has started with a legal argument. We’ll let you know when the evidence of complainant “M” has recommenced.

Court has taken a break for lunch and the hearing will resume at 2pm. Today, complainant “M” has returned to the witness box and is being cross-examined by Alan Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC.

Here is the morning’s evidence:

Asked what sort of challenges he was referring to, he said: “Someone who has a presence in media, someone who has a reputation around what they do, someone also who’s been generous to me at times in my life. That’s why I believe I am wishing them the best for Christmas, even though an incident occurred prior to this at their house.”