A former radio colleague of Alan Jones has admitted joking about the veteran broadcaster being generous and giving attention to a younger colleague at a Christmas lunch, but has denied seeing an indecent assault.
Former 2GB host and producer Jason Morrison is giving evidence in the criminal trial of his long-time colleague Mr Jones, who has pleaded not guilty to 22 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching involving six men.
Mr Morrison has been questioned by the Crown, which made an application to cross-examine its own witness after raising concerns he was deliberately omitting key evidence about a Christmas lunch, where one count of indecent assault allegedly occurred.
The court is hearing evidence about a Christmas lunch in 2008. (ABC News: Ethan Rix)
The court has heard Complainant C, a younger former colleague of Mr Jones, has alleged his boss “rested” his hand on his crotch for “most of” a lunch at a Sydney restaurant in 2008.
Under questioning from prosecutor Georgina Wright SC, Mr Morrison told the NSW Local Court he and other lunch guests made jokes about the complainant and Mr Jones looking like a “great couple”.
“The joking was about the defendant appearing to give some romantic attention to [Complainant C] wasn’t it?”
“Well, that was our joke,” Mr Morrison replied.
Later, when pressed on whether the attention was romantic or sexual, Mr Morrison denied both, but said there was “certainly a joke about Alan being generous” to Complainant C.
‘I didn’t see that happen’Sexual assault support services:
Another lunch guest gave evidence last week that Mr Morrison was present when someone said to Complainant C, “you copped a feel under the table, didn’t you?”
But Mr Morrison repeatedly denied hearing that on Tuesday, and said he did not see Mr Jones place his hand on Complainant C’s lap under the table.
“If I was aware of that, given my closeness to [the complainant], and my sometimes forthright manner, I would have raised it,” Mr Morrison said.
“I didn’t, because I didn’t see that happen.”
When Ms Wright accused Mr Morrison of “tailoring” his evidence to suit Mr Jones, Mr Morrison took offence.
“I’m here under oath and I find that offensive,” he replied.
Mr Morrison says he did not see Mr Jones (pictured) placing his hand on the complainant’s lap at the lunch. (ABC News: Abubakr Sajid)
Earlier, the court heard prosecutors were concerned Mr Morrison was omitting critical pieces of evidence, which other witnesses had offered, because Mr Morrison believed the allegations against Mr Jones were a “smear campaign”.
Ms Wright pointed to text messages between Mr Morrison and Mr Jones where he allegedly expressed a “long held disdain” for Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) journalist Kate McClymont, who investigated Mr Jones for the newspaper.
Mr Morrison agreed in his evidence that he did think some of Ms McClymont’s reporting in relation to Mr Jones was “average”, because she once interviewed him for a story but did not use his quotes.
Judge Glenn Walsh granted the application for the prosecution to cross-examine their witness and will publish his reasons at a later date.
More on the Alan Jones trial