Australian radio host pleads not guilty to sex abuse

The 83-year-old faces 34 charges over alleged incidents between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.

Mr Jones is one of Australia's most influential media figures and a former coach of its national rugby union team. He has previously denied allegations of abuse, first published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.

After appearing in court, he spoke publicly for the first time since his arrest last month, saying: "I have never indecently assaulted these people."

"I want you to understand this: these allegations are all either baseless or they distort the truth, and you should know that prior to my arrest I was given no opportunity by police to answer any of these allegations."

Mr Jones was taken into custody at his Sydney apartment on 18 November, as detectives from the New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad searched the harbour-front property and seized electronic devices.

Originally charged in relation to eight people - including a 17-year-old boy - police have since filed additional charges, and say investigations are continuing.

All the charges, except two of common assault, are sex offences.

Police said some of the alleged victims knew the radio and TV host personally, and that at least one had been employed by him.

Others were allegedly assaulted the first time they met him, NSW Police's Michael Fitzgerald told reporters last month.

"The law assumes that I am not guilty, and I am not guilty," Mr Jones told the media scrum waiting for him after his first court appearance in Sydney on Wednesday.

"That's all I can say at the moment, but I am emphatic that I'll be defending every charge before a jury in due course."

A former teacher, Mr Jones coached the Wallabies between 1984 and 1988, before pivoting to a radio career.

He also, at times, worked as a speechwriter and advisor for Liberal Party figures - including former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser - and launched several failed bids to represent the party in both state and federal politics.

A staple of Sydney airwaves on local station 2GB for decades, Mr Jones juggled those duties with TV commentary gigs before he retired from full time work in 2020 citing health issues.

The broadcaster is a polarising figure, for years boasting one of the nation's biggest audiences but often courting controversy.

He made headlines in 2012 for suggesting that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father had "died of shame", and in 2019 faced a massive advertiser boycott after saying someone should "shove a sock" down the throat of New Zealand's leader at the time, Jacinda Ardern.

-BBC