Warning: Graphic content

A former staffer to Alan Jones has told a court the 2GB host bombarded him with “love-bombing” text messages that became increasingly sexual before he touched and kissed him repeatedly without his consent.

Complainant “C”, who was employed as a young man in a $45,000-a-year role that involved driving Jones and running errands, started giving evidence on Friday in Jones’ lengthy indecent assault and sexual touching trial.

He gave emotional testimony that he felt regret every day that he “didn’t fight back or say ‘no’ louder, but you couldn’t”.

“Alan was protected, he was the golden goose,” he told the NSW Local Court in Sydney. “There was no way in the world I could have said anything to anyone.”

During one of the alleged incidents, “C” said, Jones placed his hand under the table on the complainant’s penis over his clothing while they dined with a group at a lower north shore restaurant.

“It was the first time he’d done it in front of other people,” complainant “C” said.

“I was worried others could see. I was already self-conscious about sitting next to him. I didn’t want them thinking I was Alan’s toy.

“I know that sounds like a simplistic way of putting it, but they all made jokes about Alan being interested in young men.”

He said he recalled the expression on the faces of two guests. “I could see them looking at me, almost sniggering.”

Complainant “C” said he was left feeling “deeply embarrassed” after the lunch when a guest said to him: “You copped a feel under the table? Did you like it?”

Jones is standing trial on 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching without consent. The charges span almost 20 years, between 2003 and 2020, and six complainants. He denies the allegations.

“C” is the second complainant to give evidence in the trial. Of the 22 charges, eight indecent assault charges relate to “C” and are alleged to have occurred over a five-month period almost 20 years ago.

Five of those charges relate to alleged kisses in the lift at Jones’ apartment or the 2GB lift, while three relate to alleged touching of the complainant’s penis over his clothing.

‘Extraordinary’ power imbalance

The man told the court he had said “no” repeatedly as Jones kissed him for the first time without his consent in the lift of the broadcaster’s harbourside apartment.

An “extraordinary” power imbalance prevented him speaking out as the alleged assaults continued, “C” said, and he felt trapped in the lift.

“I remember dropping my head, almost like with my chin touching the top of my neck … avoiding his face,” he said of the first alleged kiss.

“C” said he was holding Jones’ belongings at the time. After that, the complainant told the court, Jones would usually try to kiss him “any time we were in the lift together”, adding that “each time he tried to kiss me, he did”.

“It was like in a romantic way, like how you kiss someone on TV shows and movies, like grabbing my face and coming towards me,” he said. The complainant said he did not kiss Jones back.

“I never leant forward, so by this point he knew I wasn’t kissing him back,” he said.

“I couldn’t tell him to stop. It’s hard to explain now but the power dynamic was extraordinary.”

He said that by the time Jones kissed him in the 2GB lift he had become “very desensitised, but I never ever kissed him back”.

Alleged touching

“C” said Jones had also touched or rubbed his penis over his clothing on a series of occasions when he drove the radio host home. He told the court he felt violated.

“It was any day that he wasn’t on the phone or asleep … if he was awake or alert, yes, it was more than likely he was going to touch me,” he said.

“I’ve never had a man touch me on the penis before – I am not gay.”

The text messages

Complainant “C” said the then-2GB broadcaster began acting “romantic” towards him after a trip to Jones’ Fitzroy Falls farm in the NSW Southern Highlands.

“‘Big kisses, big hugs’, that wasn’t a way we’d previously engaged with each other, and all of a sudden, they were the texts I started to get,” he said. He said he felt “bombarded with love-bombing”.

The messages soon became sexual, he said, as Jones would make comments about his penis.

‘Starstruck’ first meeting

“C” told the court he had met Jones at a function as a young adult and rushed home to tell his father, who admired the broadcaster.

“I grew up as a talkback radio man … sitting around a table listening to Alan Jones,” he said. “I was pretty starstruck.”

‘Dream’ role

The broadcaster ultimately offered him a role that paid about $45,000 a year and included running errands and driving, the court heard.

Complainant “C” said working for Jones “was a dream”. The first meal he made for Jones was a breakfast of soft-boiled eggs with toast cut into soldiers, he said.

“I took it to him on a tray and it always had to be a cloth napkin over my arm … I was told it was how he liked it,” he said.

Ironing Jones’ hankies, underpants

He said he also ironed Jones’ underpants and handkerchiefs. Following objections by Jones’ barrister, Gabrielle Bashir, SC, it appeared it may have been the butler who asked “C” to attend to that work, rather than Jones.

While he said that working for Jones was a dream, “C” told the court these were not the jobs he wanted to do for his career.

“C” continues giving evidence on Monday.

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.