Veteran Australian broadcaster Alan Jones was charged on Monday with two dozen offenses of sexual and indecent assault. The alleged crimes go back some 20 years.
Jones was arrested at his home in Sydney on Monday morning by New South Wales police and taken to the police station, where he was charged and remanded on bail to appear in court on Dec. 18.
He was charged with 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault, nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching a person without consent and another two counts of common assault.
“Allegations have been made, nothing has been tested, nothing has been proven,” Jones’ lawyer Chris Murphy said outside the police station, according to Australian media. “Alan Jones will assert his innocence appropriately in the courtroom.”
Police said that Jones knew the eight alleged victims in different ways — some personally, others he employed — and that the youngest had been 17 years old when the alleged assault happened. The alleged incidents took place between 2001 and 2019.
New South Wales police assistant commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said that media reporting had sparked the investigation into Jones by its child abuse squad.
Jones, now 83, was also a successful coach of Australia’s national rugby union team, known as the Wallabies, from 1984 to 1987. He had a broadcasting career that started in 1985 and ran for some 35 years. He had his debut as a news presenter on Sydney’s 2UE and joined Sky News and breakfast radio 2GB in 2002. He held that role for 18 years, and in 2021 joined conservative streaming channel ADH TV where he remained until last year.
SBS News reported that before entering the broadcasting field, Jones was also a speechwriter for former prime minister Malcolm Fraser and an English teacher at the King’s School in Sydney.