Jarryd Hayne sentencing: Former NRL star goes from poster boy to prisoner

Jarryd Hayne has spent some of his final hours as a free man with a former Eels teammate as he awaits his sentence for aggravated sexual assault.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos MARCH 22, 2021 - Former NRL superstar Jarryd Hayne who has been found guilty of counts of sexual assault, leaving the Downing Centre in Sydney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

At 10am on Thursday, in room 6.2 of the Newcastle District Court, Jarryd Hayne will stand for sentencing.

In the courtroom seats behind him, holding so many nerves over the past few days that they have hardly slept, will be Hayne’s closest friends and family.

Outside, the rugby league world will wait for the thud of the outcome to emerge. The day, that few in Australian sport could ever have predicted, has arrived.

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Former NRL superstar Jarryd Hayne was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

From NRL poster boy to prisoner - it is an undisputable journey from the greatest to the saddest fall from grace in Australian sport.

Hayne will be sentenced by Judge Syme after being found guilty of two counts of aggravated sexual assault causing actual bodily harm in March.

He is facing a maximum possible sentence of 14 years in jail.

Hayne has this week spent some of his final hours as a free man catching up with former Eels teammate Corey Norman.

Norman posted a picture on Instagram with Hayne, captioned “catch ups”.

The former Dally M medal winner has already indicated he will appeal Thursday’s sentencing.

Hayne’s aggravated sexual assault charges stem from an encounter with a 28-year-old woman in her home on the night of 30 September 2018 - the night of the NRL grand final.

Hayne claimed the encounter at the home of the then 26-year-old woman at her home at Fletcher, on Newcastle’s outskirts, was consensual, while the prosecution alleged that the ex-league star was aware the woman had not given consent.

He was found not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.

“A custodial sentence is inevitable,” Judge Syme said after Hayne was found guilty of the two charges.

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His first trial in Newcastle last year ended in a hung jury, however the jury found him guilty of performing oral and digital sex on the woman without her consent.

During her evidence, which was replayed from Hayne’s first trial, the woman said she refused to consent to sex because the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside.

He had been in Newcastle for a two-day buck’s party and had organised to pay a cab driver $550 to take him back to Sydney.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said when she heard the taxi beeping outside her bedroom window she resolved there was “no way” she was going to consent to sex.

Hayne was drinking on the taxi ride to the woman’s house and left the empty bottle of a pre-mixed alcoholic drink on the letterbox.

Hayne last played in the NRL with the Eels in 2018. Picture: Tony Feder/Getty Images

He said he went into the woman’s bedroom and lay on her bed where he attempted to serenade her by singing along to some of his “go-to” songs on YouTube, including an Ed Sheeran cover of Oasis’s Wonderwall.

According to the woman, he forcibly kissed her during and pushed her head into the pillow.

She described being overpowered by Hayne, who she said pulled off her jeans before sexually assaulting her despite her attempts to stop him.

After asking if a $50 note on the bed was hers, he left on the trip to Sydney.

Soon after, the woman sent him a string of text messages saying “I am hurting so much” and “I know I’ve talked about sex and stuff so much but I didn’t want to do that after knowing the taxi was waiting for you”.

Mr Hayne replied: “Go doctor tomorrow.”

She also messaged another friend saying he was “rough” and that he “ended up getting his hand down there”.

“I said ‘stop’ and stuff and then I kind of just let it go because he was so into it and pushy,” she said.

“I just feel like I let it happen to myself by not screaming at him.”

An emotional Hayne spoke to reporters outside court last March, following the jury’s verdict.

“I’d rather go to jail knowing I spoke the truth than be a free man living a lie,” Hayne said.

“I’ve shown it from the start, It’s unfortunate, it’s disappointing. But at the end of the day they’ve come to the decision.”