Executive testifies he did not react to alleged groping by Alan Jones to avoid causing a scene

An executive has testified in a Sydney court that he didn’t react when allegedly groped by talkback titan Alan Jones because he didn’t want to cause a scene.

The fourth alleged victim gave evidence on Tuesday in the trial of the retired broadcaster who has pleaded not guilty to 21 indecent assault and sexual touching charges. One charge was withdrawn on Monday.

The executive told the court the only time he ever met Jones was at a event held in Sydney several years ago.

He described talking to the then-ruler of Sydney’s airwaves and two other men in the corner of a room when he felt Jones’s hand touch his back, move down his spine, and rest on his bottom.

The executive said he didn’t know how long Jones’s hand had stayed there but he didn’t react or say anything to the veteran broadcaster.

“I didn’t want to cause a scene ... I thought that could potentially ruin the night,” he told Downing Centre local court. “To be honest, I felt a little bit powerless in that situation”.

He had not done anything to indicate he wanted to be sexually touched by Jones and hadn’t consented to it, the executive said.

He told the court he recounted what happened to his boss that night and confided in a colleague in the following days.

“I said I felt disgusting and powerless and it’s really the first time I have understood what women have been going through for all these years,” the executive said.

Jones sent a thank you email to him after the event and he responded but they didn’t see each other again, the court was told.

Years later, the executive’s colleague sent him a link to a 2023 article about allegations against Jones in the Sydney Morning Herald.

He said the article spurred him to reach out to its author Kate McClymont “because of what I’d been through”.

The executive said he recounted the alleged groping to McClymont but didn’t authorise her to use the information.

He was upset when he saw his allegations aired in a later article by the journalist, he told the court. McClymont is scheduled to give evidence later in the trial.

After speaking to the journalist, the executive made a statement to police, the court heard on Tuesday.

Jones was charged with one count of sexual touching without consent against the executive, which he has denied.

The executive is the fourth of five complainants to testify against Jones and has elected to face the broadcaster in person.

The former Wallabies coach has pleaded not guilty to 19 charges of indecent assault and two charges of sexual touching without consent against five men.

A charge of indecent assault against a 17-year-old boy was withdrawn and dismissed at the prosecution’s request on Monday.

Jones argues all of the allegations – which date from 2003 to the end of his highly influential 35-year broadcasting career in 2020 – have all been concocted.