Eight victims between 2001 and 2019. Alan Jones, former rugby coach turned star radio host in Australia, was charged this Monday with several offenses of a sexual nature, police announced. Inspectors from a brigade specializing in the fight against child abuse arrested the 83-year-old man during a search of his luxury apartment on Sydney Harbour.
According to New South Wales Police, Alan Jones was charged with 24 offenses committed against eight victims between 2001 and 2019, 11 of which amounted to aggravated indecent assault. “The accused knew some of them personally. Some of them professionally,” New South Wales Criminal Police Commander Michael Fitzgerald told reporters. The youngest victim was 17 years old at the time of the incident, according to Mr. Fitzgerald.
A place in the pantheon of Australian sports since 1989
Alan Jones rose to prominence coaching the men’s national rugby team in the 1980s, leading the Wallabies to a rare “grand slam” against England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. His coaching achievements earned him a place in the Australian sports hall of fame, where he was inducted in 1989.
But it was his career as a radio talk show host, which he ended in 2020, that cemented his influence on public life in Australia. In 2005, an Australian court found that he had incited hatred against Australians of Lebanese origin, leading to riots in Sydney. Throughout his career, conservative figure Alan Jones made several unsuccessful attempts to gain a seat in the Australian parliament.
