Ray Hadley testifies in Alan Jones indecent assault trial

Broadcaster Ray Hadley has told a Sydney court that an alleged victim of Alan Jones confided in 2019 he’d been “sexually assaulted” by the fellow 2GB broadcaster on a number of occasions.

“He said [Jones] put his hand on my cock and kissed me,” Hadley told the Downing Centre local court on Tuesday.

Jones is on trial on 20 charges of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching against six complainants. The 85-year-old has pleaded not guilty.

“I asked him if he was homosexual and whether he was consenting to it,” Hadley told the court when giving evidence.

“He broke down and cried and said ‘No, I hated it. I’m not homosexual.’”

Hadley was questioned by the prosecutor Georgina Wright about the conversation he had with the alleged victim, known as complainant C.

“At varying stages, he broke down and sobbed,” Hadley said. “I just stopped, let him compose himself, offered my support, and let him continue.”

He was also questioned about putting C in contact with a journalist from the Sydney Morning Herald.

With Hadley in the room, C spoke to SMH journalist Peter FitzSimons on the phone, but his identity remained a secret as he didn’t want his story told at that stage, Hadley said.

The witness said complainant C said “it would ruin me, it would ruin my career … he’s too powerful”.

Hadley said he promised C he would not reveal his identity and he would keep his disclosure secret. The conversation lasted between 30 and 40 minutes, Hadley told the court.

“At varying stages, he broke down and sobbed,” Hadley said. “I just stopped, let him compose himself, offered my support, and let him continue.”

C earlier told the court he confided in Hadley in 2019 that he had been inappropriately touched by Jones in 2008.

“I broke down and I said ‘He’s a fucking grub, he used to grab me on the cock, he used to kiss me’,” C told the court.

“Ray just listened. I just broke down sobbing. I said ‘He [Jones] is a fucking cunt, he’s just a cunt’.”

Hadley on Tuesday said: “I wanted to go across the other side of the desk and give him a hug, but I just kept telling him it wasn’t his fault. He was a victim, and he didn’t have to explain to me that he should have rejected the advances.”

Hadley told the court that C had also mentioned a luncheon where “Jones brought him to sit next to him, and during the luncheon he was touching his cock under the table”.

Hadley said C told him that two guests at the lunch, including broadcaster Jason Morrison, were “laughing and giggling at what was happening” and C said he felt “embarrassed” and “helpless”.

Several years later, in 2023, C got in contact with Hadley to tell him he had spoken to the Sydney Morning Herald’s chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont, the court heard.

Hadley said after a story was published, featuring C under a pseudonym, he made a pre-recorded statement about the allegations on 2GB. “Anything I said pertaining to this matter would have been legalled by our lawyers,” he told the court on Tuesday.

Jones’s defence barrister Gabrielle Bashir SC said in her opening address last month that the allegations against her client were “trial by media” fuelled by the hatred and jealousy of his 2GB radio rival Hadley.

“You will see evidence in Hadley’s own words of his resolve to destroy Jones and to one by one, tear his supporters apart,” Bashir said.

The court heard part of the defence case is that two SMH journalists, McClymont and columnist Peter FitzSimons, were “looking for a story”.

“Unfortunately, rumours and media coverage are at the heart of more than a reasonable possibility of contamination or reconstruction in this case,” Bashir said.

Bashir alleged that Hadley “wanted to destroy” Jones and to “tear him apart”.

“Rivalry, treachery, double-dealing, money, hatred, desperation, opportunism and more” were at the “heart of this case”, Bashir said in the opening of the judge-only trial.

On Monday, a 2GB staffer told the court there was a fierce rivalry between Jones and Hadley over the coveted breakfast slot in 2019, when Jones was nearing the end of his contract and Hadley wanted to move from the Ray Hadley Morning Show to breakfast.

“My understanding is Mr Hadley had signed a secret contract to replace Mr Jones while Mr Jones was coming off contract,” 2GB broadcaster James Willis told the court.

“And while this was meant to be a secret, it had spread throughout the corridors enough that our team, including Jones, had been aware of it.”

The trial before judge Glenn Walsh continues.