A brother of four Sydney men convicted of gang rape says he never gave broadcaster Alan Jones or The Daily Telegraph newspaper permission to name him as a juvenile witness at a murder trial. 


Jones came face to face with the witness during a hearing on charges that he named the child on his radio show last year.


During Wednesday’s hearing, a magistrate also agreed to accept into evidence police statements from the boy’s late father, who had been charged with lying during a gang rape trial for two of his sons.


Jones, 2GB licensee Harbour Radio and The Daily Telegraph publisher Nationwide News are facing charges of breaching the Childrens Criminal Proceedings Act by naming the child witness in July last year.


Police allege the boy was 14 when he witnessed the fatal attack on another man in April 2004.


He gave evidence during a murder trial last year and his name was reported in The Daily Telegraph and on Jones’ morning radio show.


The trial was eventually aborted for other reasons.


The boy told the court he did not give anyone permission to publish or broadcast his name.


But counsel for both defendants have questioned the witness’ age at the time of the trial.


Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen Syme agreed to accept two statements given to police by the boy’s father.


In the statements, the father said the boy was born on July 3, 1989.


But Liz Fullerton, SC, for Jones and Harbour Radio, told the court the boy’s father had testified during the 2003 gang rape trial of two of his sons, known only as MAK and MSK, that he did not know his children’s birthdays.


“He gave sworn testimony that he did not know the birth date of any of his children,” she said.


The father’s testimony during that gang rape trial resulted in him being charged with perjury for allegedly providing a false alibi for his sons.


He died while the matter was still before the courts.


In the Downing Centre Local Court, Peter Miller, acting for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the boy’s father may have been unable to remember the dates at that time.


“One’s memory can be refreshed,” he said.


Speaking through an interpreter, the boy’s mother told the court she had eight children but could not remember their birth dates.


She said the births were recorded at a registry in Pakistan.


The woman said that, as part of her Islamic faith, birthdays are not celebrated annually.


Wearing a black suit and pink tie, Jones sat quietly in the court during Wednesday’s proceedings.


Previously, Ms Fullerton told the court the juvenile had a variety of aliases and alternative dates of birth, some dating back as far as 1977, recorded against his fingerprints on the police database.


MSK, MAK and their brothers MMK and MRK, are serving maximum jail terms ranging from 32 to 10 years for gang rape and other sex offences against girls as young as 13.


The hearing was adjourned to a date to be set.