Alan Jones faces 25 costs of indecent assault and two of sexual touching referring to 9 complainants after prosecutors revealed two alleged victims would not be a part of the case towards the veteran broadcaster.
Jones was on Thursday anticipated to make his first look in courtroom this yr to be dedicated to face trial on 44 costs of indecent assault towards 11 victims aged 17 and older.
However the former 2GB and Sky Information Australia broadcaster was not required to look in the course of the temporary point out at Downing Centre native courtroom, throughout which the courtroom heard 17 of the fees towards the broadcaster had been dropped and two complainants had been not a part of the case.
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“There was a really vital growth in Mr Jones’s case,” his lawyer Bryan Wrench advised the courtroom.
“There aren’t any costs referring to the counsel aggravated indecent assault … no aggravation or certainly that Mr Jones had these complainants below his authority,” Wrench advised deputy chief Justice of the Peace Sharon Freund.
Wrench mentioned his shopper entered pleas of not responsible on all the “downgraded” costs. Jones would face trial in a neighborhood courtroom earlier than a Justice of the Peace, reasonably than within the district courtroom earlier than a decide and jury, the courtroom heard on Thursday.
Wrench requested for an eight-week adjournment to speak with the DPP about what he referred to as “unresolved” and “ongoing” disclosure points, together with alleged leaks to the media.
On Monday, new allegations emerged towards Jones. Wrench mentioned 23 minutes after he was notified by the DPP about these developments, the media had been notified. He referred to as the disclosure of recent costs and different materials being disseminated to media shops, together with the Australian, “extraordinary”.
After initially calling the quantity of adjournment time “extraordinary”, Freund conceded to the request, with the case set all the way down to return to courtroom on 11 November, and the trial set for 2026.
The courtroom heard the DPP estimated the trial would take six weeks, whereas Wrench recommended the hearings may take as much as 5 months.
“We’re not set as much as cope with a three-month trial,” the Justice of the Peace mentioned, later including the case was a “large drain on already stretched sources”.
In an announcement, the DPP confirmed it “decided to proceed with 27 costs of indecent assault and sexual touching towards Alan Jones” and that the fees would proceed within the native courtroom.
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The 84-year-old Jones was initially charged with committing a variety of offences in numerous locations throughout NSW between 2001 and 2019.
Police arrange Strike Drive Bonnefin in March 2024 to research alleged indecent assaults and sexual touching incidents allegedly involving Jones, after they had been raised by the Sydney Morning Herald’s investigative reporter Kate McClymont.
Jones has beforehand denied all wrongdoing and mentioned he was planning authorized motion towards 9 newspapers for the “demonstrably false” allegations.
He final appeared in courtroom in December when it was recommended he would face a jury trial on the fees.
“I’m actually not responsible, and I’ll be presenting my case to a jury, as you heard this morning,” he mentioned on the time.
“I would like you to know … these allegations are all both baseless or they distort the reality. And you need to know that, previous to my arrest, I used to be given no alternative by police to reply any of those allegations.”
