Jarryd Hayne: NRL Star granted bail, leaves Cooma jail
Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne smiled as he left Cooma jail on his 34th birthday. It comes after his sexual assault conviction was quashed and he was granted bail.
Canberra Star
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Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne walked from jail with a smile on his face on Tuesday, a day after his sexual assault conviction was quashed.
Carrying a small brown cardboard box and an Aldi shopping bag, both filled with his belongings, the former Parramatta Eels star avoided awaiting media outside Cooma Correctional Facility in southern NSW.
Hayne, who turned 34 on Tuesday, left the facility wearing a grey shirt with green prison shorts and thongs.
As he approached a white SUV, he shared an embrace and smile with a supporter before he jumped in the car without speaking.
The atmosphere outside the jail was eerily quiet for most of the day.
Besides a few people who drove past to ask why a large media contingent was outside the jail, or a few curious locals of the sleepy town who hoped to catch a glimpse of Hayne.
Unlike previous court appearances where Hayne would be greeted by a crowd of supporters, no NRL tragics were camping out to greet him.
On Tuesday morning, NewsWire reported Hayne was granted bail in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court after appearing via audio visual link from prison.
During the appearance he was seen wearing prison greens as he observed lawyer Ramy Qutami put forward his bail application, which was granted by Judge Christopher O’Brien.
He has spent the last nine months at Cooma Correctional facility after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at her Newcastle home on NRL grand final night in 2018.
Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and Justices Ian Harrison and Helen Wilson ruled the judge who presided over the trial delivered flawed directions to the jury.
Due to this finding they quashed the convictions and ordered a retrial.
A date for this retrial has not been set.
The former NRL star has faced two trials over the sexual assault allegations.
The first trial was held in Newcastle in late 2020 and resulted in a hung jury.
A District Court jury deliberated for three days in the second trial which was held in Sydney in March.
The jury found the former Parramatta Eels superstar guilty of two counts of sexual assault, accepting the woman’s claims he performed digital and oral sex on her without her consent.
Throughout both trials Hayne has maintained his actions were consensual and any injuries that resulted were accidental.
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