Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth trial over the alleged sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman in her Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL Grand Final.
In a statement on Tuesday evening, the NSW Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said: “Having carefully considered the many competing factors that inform the assessment of the public interest in this case, the ODPP has determined not to proceed to a fourth trial against Mr Hayne.
“The decision was made in accordance with the Prosecution Guidelines. As the reasons for the decision are legally privileged, they will not be disclosed and the ODPP will not comment further.”
Jarryd Hayne outside the NSW District Court last year.Credit: Nikki Short
Hayne’s sexual assault convictions were quashed by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal on June 12 in a majority 2-1 decision, which found a miscarriage of justice had occurred at his third trial. Hayne was released on bail that afternoon from Mary Wade Correctional Centre in Lidcombe, after spending more than a year behind bars.
The court left the door open to a fourth trial, saying it was up to the state’s top prosecutor to decide, but it did not endorse that course.
Justice Deborah Sweeney, one of the judges who decided the appeal in Hayne’s favour, said that in light of “the history of this matter, to put the applicant on trial for a fourth time would not be in the interests of justice”, but it was a decision for the DPP.
Hayne’s first trial ended in a hung jury, and he successfully appealed against his convictions after a second trial.
The jury at Hayne’s third trial had found him guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, relating to oral sex and the digital penetration of the woman on September 30, 2018. Hayne, who maintained the acts were entirely consensual, was charged in November that year.
The Crown case against the former Parramatta Eels player was that the possibility of sex evaporated for the woman when she became aware he had a taxi waiting outside her home to take him to Sydney. Prosecutors alleged Hayne pulled the woman’s pants off, was rough and forceful, and left her bleeding.
Jarryd Hayne leaves prison after his successful appeal.Credit: Steven Siewert
The majority of the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal found the judge presiding over Hayne’s third trial should have allowed the former footballer’s lawyers to question the complainant about her interactions with two witnesses.
It found the combination of the judge’s refusal to allow the defence questions and his related direction to the jury led to a miscarriage of justice.
“Those matters were significant to the credibility of the complainant, which was the critical issue in the trial,” Sweeney said in her reasons.
Justice Stephen Rothman, who also decided the appeal in Hayne’s favour, said that “the credibility of the complainant was the most important issue in the trial”.
Most of the complainant’s evidence in the third trial had been recorded during Hayne’s first trial and was played to the jury.
After the jury in Hayne’s third trial returned unanimous guilty verdicts in April last year, District Court Judge Graham Turnbull had jailed Hayne in May for a maximum of four years and nine months, with a non-parole period of three years. Due to time already served, he would have been eligible for parole from May next year.
The case returns to the District Court on July 26, when it is expected the charges against Hayne will be formally withdrawn and dismissed.
with Sarah McPhee
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