Alan Jones's defense team linked the complaint to a conflict at radio station 2GB
The defense team for Australian radio host Alan Jones argued in court that a complaint filed by one of his former colleagues may have been related to a workplace dispute at the commercial radio station 2GB. A witness, referred to in the case files as Complainant C, denied the suggestion that he was encouraged to make the allegations to help radio host Ray Hadley remove Jones from the morning show.
According to ABC News Australia, Complainant C is one of six men whose statements are being considered in the criminal proceedings against Jones in the New South Wales Local Court. Jones pleads not guilty to 22 counts of indecent assault and sexual touching.
Eight of the charges relate to Complainant C’s allegations. He claims that Jones touched his groin during a car ride and kissed him several times in an apartment building elevator and a service elevator. These allegations are the subject of the trial.
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Jones’s attorney, Gabriel Bashir, SC, suggested that Hadley, who hosted the morning show, was seeking to take over Jones’s time slot and might have benefited from the publication of such allegations. She also put forward the theory that Hadley and writer Peter Fitzsimmons—who, according to the defense, held a negative view of Jones—might have coordinated the filing of the complaint in advance. Complainant C disagreed with these assumptions.
The court had previously heard that in 2019, Complainant C told Hadley about Jones’s alleged assault and spoke with Fitzsimmons by phone that same day. According to the defense, the writer was gathering material for a story about Jones at the time. The witness stated that he did not give Fitzsimmons his name and refused to provide an official comment, but did not object to his statements being used as background information.
During the questioning, they also discussed a message that Claimant C sent to Jones around the time of his departure from the radio station. In it, the witness wrote that Jones’s kindness toward him had never wavered. Claimant C explained to the court that, in his words, he had been taught to write in this manner, emphasizing the significant age difference between himself and Jones and the fact that he was a junior employee. The case is ongoing.
