Kate McClymont testifies in Alan Jones trial
Warning: Graphic content
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial in the historic Downing Centre District Court in Sydney.
Today, The Sydney Morning Herald’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, has been called to give evidence by the Crown.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 19 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against five male complainants between 2003 and 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
All five complainants have now given evidence in court. The trial has heard McClymont spoke to some of the men when she was investigating allegations against the broadcaster, which culminated in a series of reports.
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.
The complainants’ allegations
All five complainants in the trial have now given evidence. Prosecutors withdrew the sole charge relating to a sixth complainant during the trial, and a number of other charges were dropped before the trial started. The complainants have been given pseudonyms.
Kate McClymont, The Sydney Morning Herald’s chief investigative reporter, is expected to give evidence about her interactions with three of the complainants as she investigated allegations about Jones.
This is the evidence given by the complainants. Jones denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
- Complainant “J”, a former teen athlete, alleges Jones kissed and touched him non-consensually over a number of years. During the trial, the Crown extended the date range for the alleged offences to cover a period when “J” was aged between 17 and 21.
- Complainant “C”, a former staffer to Jones, alleges the then 2GB host kissed and touched him without his consent over a five-month period including kissing him in the lift of Jones’ harbourside apartment and touching him under the table at a lunch in Sydney. The complainant was in his early 20s. The court heard he spoke to McClymont at a later date about his allegations and she reported on them without naming him.
- Complainant “M”, a former athlete, alleges Jones kissed him non-consensually on two occasions when he was aged in his 30s. “M” says Jones sent him weekly flowers for years and arranged for a helicopter to fly him to his rural property.
- Complainant “H”, an executive, alleges Jones touched him at an event in Sydney and the then broadcaster placed his hand on the top of his back and “went slowly down my back and then rested it on my bottom”. He told the court he authorised McClymont to pass his details onto police, to whom he provided a statement in 2024, but not to use his information in a story.
- Complainant “A”, now a doctor, alleges Jones kissed him non-consensually when he was 17. The court heard “A” and his mother connected with McClymont after reading a story she wrote about Jones in 2023.
NSW Police set up Strike Force Bonnefin in response to the Herald’s reporting about Jones in late 2023 and early 2024. Jones was arrested in November 2024.
The media heavyweights
McClymont is the fourth high-profile media figure to give evidence in the trial, following Jones’ former 2GB colleagues Ray Hadley and Jason Morrison, and Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons.
The evidence of Hadley, Morrison and FitzSimons was relatively narrow: they were questioned about their interactions with one of the five complainants in the case, dubbed “C”.
The court has heard that McClymont, who wrote a series of investigative reports about Jones from late 2023, engaged with other complainants while she was investigating allegations against the former 2GB heavyweight.
The court heard that “C” confided in Hadley in 2019 that Jones had non-consensually touched and kissed him over a period of several months nearly 20 years ago, when he worked as a staffer to Jones.
Kate McClymont testifies in Alan Jones trial
Warning: Graphic content
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of former 2GB broadcaster Alan Jones’ indecent assault and sexual touching trial in the historic Downing Centre District Court in Sydney.
Today, The Sydney Morning Herald’s chief investigative reporter, Kate McClymont, has been called to give evidence by the Crown.
Jones, 85, is standing trial on 19 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent against five male complainants between 2003 and 2020. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies the alleged physical acts occurred.
All five complainants have now given evidence in court. The trial has heard McClymont spoke to some of the men when she was investigating allegations against the broadcaster, which culminated in a series of reports.
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.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
