Key events
Alan Jones has arrived in the courtroom. The proceedings are expected to kick off again in a moment.
On day one of the trial, the court heard several of the nine alleged indecent assaults against complainant J.
In case you missed our live coverage yesterday, below is a wrap of what was alleged in the first day of J’s evidence in chief.
Once J’s evidence in chief on each of the nine allegations is complete, he will be cross-examined by Alan Jones’s legal team.
Alan Jones first met complainant J when he was 14 years old and a star school athlete and “praised” him about his sports ability.
J alleged that Jones made a weekly deposit of $400 a week into his bank account and told him he didn’t have to tell anyone because it was a gift.
J, who was a teenager at the time, alleged that he was asked to drive Jones to a function in Canberra, and while the pair were alone in the hotel room Jones allegedly kissed him in a “smothering” way.
J alleged that after the Canberra incident Jones told him he had “been a really good boy” and increased his weekly stipend.
J told the court he didn’t tell his coach about an alleged incident because he “felt I’d lose everything” and said that he had “come from a small family” and “was getting everything handed” to him and it was a “wonderful life”.
J alleged that one of the indecent assault incidents occurred while he was driving Jones to his Fitzroy Falls farm and Jones grabbed his penis over his pants and then under his underpants.
The trial is expected to resume at 10am with complainant J continuing his evidence. I’m in court now with Amanda Meade to follow all the developments on day two.
If you want a summary of what happened yesterday, you can read Ben Doherty’s analysis below:
The booming voice, the vast radio audience, the bully pulpit of an eponymous TV show, the great and the good on speed-dial, a staffer in the prime ministerial office dubbed the ‘minister for Alan Jones’: these were not ancillaries peripheral to the Jones empire, they were central to it.
Even walking into court on Monday, at the centre of a glacially moving press pack, it was all about Alan.
That evaporated as soon as he stepped inside the claustrophobic confines of court 3.1.
Here he is simply ‘the defendant’.
Welcome
Welcome to day two of the Alan Jones indecent assault trial
On Monday, a former schoolboy athlete told the court he didn’t tell anyone that the broadcaster, now 85, was allegedly kissing him and touching his genitalia when he was a teenager because he was “fearful” of losing Jones’s financial support.
The man, known as complainant J, is expected to continue giving evidence via video link on Tuesday.
J is the first of six complainants expected to give evidence of their alleged indecent assault by Jones, who is facing 22 charges. The trial before judge Glenn Walsh at Downing Centre local court is expected to run for four months and hear from 76 witnesses.
Jones has denied all wrongdoing and said the allegations are either baseless or distorted the truth.
Jones’s defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC on Monday argued that the alleged victims had been egged on to complain by media rivals – and their reliability and credibility were questionable.
I’m Jordyn Beazley and I’ll be keeping you up to date throughout the day alongside my colleague Amanda Meade.
