Jarryd Hayne’s family errands on what could be final day of freedom
Due in court on Friday, where prosecutors will push for him to be locked up ahead of his sentencing for rape, fallen NRL star Jarryd Hayne spent Thursday running errands with his family.
NSW
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Fallen NRL player Jarryd Hayne took his family to a western Sydney medical centre on Thursday in what could be his last day of freedom before he is potentially put behind bars on remand on Friday.
The 35-year-old was found guilty by a jury last week of sexually assaulting a woman as a taxi waited for him outside her house on Newcastle’s outskirts on NRL grand final night in 2018.
He was granted bail and handed a sentence date of May 8, but prosecutors have said they want him in jail on remand as he awaits his fate.
They will push for him to be taken into custody during a NSW Supreme Court hearing on Friday.
Sporting a Golden State Warriors NBA cap, Hayne emerged from his Merrylands home with his wife, Amellia Bonnici, and their two children about 8.30am.
The family went to a nearby medical centre before heading back home.
Later in the day Hayne and Ms Bonnici also visited a local chemist.
Despite doing mundane activities, it is inevitable Friday’s court date would have been weighing heavily on the embattled couple’s minds.
Hayne’s conviction was after a third trial over the same 2018 incident in Newcastle.
The first trial ended in a hung jury in 2020 and the second ended in a guilty verdict in 2021.
Hayne spent nine months in jail before successfully appealing the second trial’s verdict.
The third trial was ordered before he was found guilty this most recent time.
Hayne’s defence barrister, Margaret Cunneen SC, argued against him being taken into custody after his most recent guilty verdict.
She said Hayne was “too high-profile” to be sent to prison amid a media storm – a position NSW District Court Judge Graham Turnbull SC accepted.
But the case is now listed in the NSW Supreme Court after prosecutors appealed Judge Turnbull’s decision.
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