A former 2GB presenter has denied covering for Alan Jones when he said he had not seen his friend and former colleague grab a man under the table at a restaurant, telling a court he would have gone to the radio station’s management.
Mr Jones is standing trial in a Sydney court having pleaded not guilty to allegations that he groped and kissed six male alleged victims, including one man who can only be known as “Complainant C”.
Mr Jones has pleaded not guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual touching and has persistently maintained his innocence.
C has told the Downing Centre Local Court that Mr Jones repeatedly kissed him without his consent and touched his penis under the table, including on one occasion at a lunch at a Sydney north shore restaurant.
The alleged incident is said to have occurred almost 20 years ago.
In his evidence to the court earlier this week, former 2GB host Jason Morrison said he did not see Mr Jones’ hand under the table and in C’s lap at any time or witness anything untoward at the lunch.
On Friday, Crown prosecutor Georgina Wright put to him that he was a “long-time friend and colleague” with Mr Jones and he was “not willing to give any evidence that might be harmful to his defence”.
“That’s not right at all. I’m here to give you my account of what happened, under oath, that’s something I take very seriously,” Mr Morrison told the court.
Mr Morrison, The Daily Telegraph’s chief of staff, described C as someone he cared “a lot about” and said had he had known of any allegations, they “would have been dealt with” and there would have been “ramifications at the radio station”.
“I didn’t see it,” Mr Morrison told the court of the alleged incident.
During his evidence earlier this week, Mr Morrison also denied being involved in a conversation with C at the lunch during which someone asked whether C had “copped a feel”.
Mr Morrison previously told the court that he and others were laughing at C because he was at the “adult end” of the table and it appeared “he wanted to be at the fun end”.
Mr Morrison said “some people joked (that Jones and C) looked like a great couple” but insisted it was “banter” and denied there were any sexual connotations to the remark.
Hey also denied that he was motivated by longstanding disdain for journalist Kate McClymont, who wrote stories about the allegations in late 2023, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Mr Morrison further told the court that he was “very sorry” for what C was going through during the proceedings.
“I’m here to give evidence about whether I saw it or heard anything about it,” Mr Morrison told the court. “But I didn’t.”
Mr Morrison also said he didn’t believe C would have made a serious criminal complaint “lightly” and that it was “very difficult to be put in the middle of two friends”.
Mr Morrison was earlier this week questioned about a transcript of a recording of a conversation between him and Ms McClymont.
“I did not consent to a recorded conversation with Kate or anyone at the Herald,” Mr Morrison told the court earlier in the week.
Mr Jones’ defence in court on Tuesday questioned whether Ms McClymont had recorded the conversation without his consent, as required under NSW law, and whether it was therefore inadmissible.
The Crown on Friday withdrew its reliance on the transcript, the court was told.
No finding was made about the legality of the recording.
The trial continues.