A politician who worked with an alleged victim of Alan Jones has told a Sydney court the man looked uncharacteristically “sunken and diminished” when meeting with the broadcaster at his Circular Quay apartment.
The former MP, who Guardian Australia has chosen not to name because it may lead to the identification of the alleged victim, known as complainant C, said the man was usually outgoing and engaged but his demeanour changed once he sat down at a table with his former boss.
The court heard C, who was Jones’s driver as a young man, was “anxious and uncomfortable” when the three men sat at a rectangular table for a meeting in Jones’s waterfront property.
C had gone on to work for a politician after leaving Jones, and he accompanied his boss to a meeting with Jones about a board role.
The witness said C did not speak and did not make eye contact which was highly unusual for someone who usually had a lot to contribute.
In his evidence-in-chief last month C said the meeting at the Toaster left him anxious and uncomfortable. He was challenged by the defence because he had sent Jones a text at the time saying how much he enjoyed seeing him.
Earlier on Thursday, the court heard from multiple friends and colleagues who testified that C told them that as a young man he was indecently assaulted by the broadcaster.
The second alleged victim to give evidence at the trial, C has said that over the years he had mentioned to people in his life that he had been touched inappropriately by Jones.
Jones has pleaded not guilty to ۲۰ charges of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching against six complainants.
In a day of rapid fire evidence, the Downing Centre court heard from six people who said that C would sporadically confide in them how his then-boss would touch him inappropriately.
A former colleague who worked with C in a government role said one day he was driving with C along the Hume Highway when he made an allegation about his time working as a driver for Jones.
“We were talking about ۲GB and he was reminiscing about driving Mr Jones around and he communicated that [Jones] had reached into his crotch and squeezed it,” the witness said.
Asked by the prosecution how he responded, the witness apologised to the court for using crude language and said he answered “What the fuck?”.
“And C said ‘that’s just Alan, that’s his behaviour’,” he told the court, adding that C said Jones was “a very powerful man within ۲GB”.
C’s father-in-law did not give evidence but his police statement was read out in court.
He said his son-in law occasionally told anecdotes about working for Jones, including one occasion when Jones invited him into his Circular Quay apartment and “when Alan sat down in his chair he was only wearing a dressing gown with nothing underneath” and C said “his undercarriage was hanging out”.
His father-in-law told police that C in ۲۰۲۳ disclosed to him that Jones had “pushed him up against the wall and kissed me” and he had “not previously told me about the hurt it caused”.
Another witness, a school friend, told the court C alleged that Jones would say inappropriate things about genitals in text messages to him.
Another colleague told the court that when C was at his house and they were watching horse racing, C commented on a presenter on Sky Racing “who was dressed very flamboyantly” and C asked “do you want to know if he is gay’”?
The witness said yes he did and C replied: “He said he was ‘as gay as Alan grabbing me on the cock day’”.
Another pupil at the same school who became friends with C as an adult said he would make reference to things that happened to him while working for Jones, like “being grabbed on the cock” and “that he would be kissed”.
Another colleague, who worked with C for a politician, said C said: In the office “he said when he drove Mr Jones he would put his hand on his leg and go the grope”.
Another former school mate who later became a colleague said at a lunch with friends C adopted a joking tone and said: “Did anything happen with you when you were working with Alan? He tried to kiss me in the lift once. And I said what do you mean?” They never discussed it again.
The trial before judge Glenn Walsh continues.
