Australian radio host pleads not guilty to abuse

Veteran Australian broadcaster Alan Jones has pleaded not blameworthy to sexually abusing 10 young men implicit astir 2 decades.

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

Mr Jones is 1 of Australia's astir influential media figures and a erstwhile manager of its nationalist rugby national team. He has antecedently denied allegations of abuse, archetypal published by The Sydney Morning Herald successful 2023.

After appearing successful court, helium spoke publically for the archetypal clip since his apprehension past month, saying: "I person ne'er indecently assaulted these people."

"I privation you to recognize this: these allegations are each either baseless oregon they distort the truth, and you should cognize that anterior to my apprehension I was fixed nary accidental by constabulary to reply immoderate of these allegations."

Mr Jones was taken into custody astatine his Sydney flat connected 18 November, arsenic detectives from the New South Wales (NSW) Police Child Abuse Squad searched the harbour-front spot and seized physics devices.

Originally charged successful narration to 8 radical - including a 17-year-old lad - constabulary person since filed further charges, and accidental investigations are continuing.

All the charges, but 2 of communal assault, are enactment offences.

Police said immoderate of the alleged victims knew the vigor and TV big personally, and that astatine slightest 1 had been employed by him.

Others were allegedly assaulted the archetypal clip they met him, NSW Police's Michael Fitzgerald told reporters past month.

"The instrumentality assumes that I americium not guilty, and I americium not guilty," Mr Jones told the media scrum waiting for him aft his archetypal tribunal quality successful Sydney connected Wednesday.

"That's each I tin accidental astatine the moment, but I americium emphatic that I'll beryllium defending each complaint earlier a assemblage successful owed course."

A erstwhile teacher, Mr Jones coached the Wallabies betwixt 1984 and 1988, earlier pivoting to a vigor career.

He also, astatine times, worked arsenic a speechwriter and advisor for Liberal Party figures - including erstwhile Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser - and launched respective failed bids to correspond the enactment successful some authorities and national politics.

A staple of Sydney airwaves connected section presumption 2GB for decades, Mr Jones juggled those duties with TV commentary gigs earlier helium retired from afloat clip enactment successful 2020 citing wellness issues.

The broadcaster is simply a polarising figure, for years boasting 1 of the nation's biggest audiences but often courting controversy.

He made headlines successful 2012 for suggesting that then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard's begetter had "died of shame", and successful 2019 faced a monolithic advertiser boycott aft saying idiosyncratic should "shove a sock" down the pharynx of New Zealand's person astatine the time, Jacinda Ardern.