A “stunned and upset” executive replied “what could I do?” when asked why he didn't react when allegedly groped by talkback titan Alan Jones, his colleague says.
The executive alleges Jones - whom he had never met before - placed his hand on his upper back, ran it down his spine and rested it on his bottom at a function in Sydney several years ago.
He was the fourth of five complainants to testify in a NSW Local Court after the 85-year-old pleaded not guilty to 21 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching without consent.
The executive looked very different from his usual self when a colleague approached him days later and asked about the event, the court was told on Wednesday.
“He looked stunned and upset,” the colleague said, adding the executive hadn’t responded immediately.
“He said that Mr Jones had touched him inappropriately at the function.”
When she asked how he had reacted, she said the executive replied that he had frozen.
“He said ‘I didn’t do anything. What could I do?’” his colleague told the court.
“He was shocked. He was in a room full of people”.
The executive previously testified that he hadn’t reacted or said anything when Jones sexually touched him without his consent, telling the court he didn’t want to cause a scene and felt powerless.
His colleague said she had assured the executive she wouldn’t tell anyone and didn’t follow up with him or speak about it until police contacted her.
Under cross examination by Jones’s barrister Michael Burke, she agreed she looked at her diary to refresh her memory of the dates before giving a statement to police.
But she rejected she didn’t have clear memory of the complaint, insisting the executive’s demeanour “hit me then and sticks with me now”.
When Mr Burke put to her the account of the complaint was an exaggeration, the colleague retorted “I completely refute that”.
The executive’s boss earlier told the court he confided days after the event that Jones had run his hand down his back.
“He came to my door and he said ‘Now I know how women feel’,” she said.
She said he made it clear he didn't want to make a formal complaint when asked.
The executive previously told the court he had disclosed the alleged sexual touching to his boss on the night it happened, and attributed the comment about women to a conversation with his colleague instead.
He had resolutely rejected suggestions Jones had never groped him, telling the court “he absolutely did”.
Jones rejects all of the allegations - which date from 2003 to the end of his highly influential 35-year broadcasting career in 2020 - saying they have all been concocted.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
