DPP wants more time over Jarryd Hayne retrial decision

Ex NRL posterboy Jarryd Hayne will have to wait to find out if he will stand trial accused of rape for a third time.

Ex NRL posterboy Jarryd Hayne will have to wait to find out if he will stand trial accused of rape for a third time.

In a brief hearing in the Sydney District Court on Friday, Judge Christopher O’Brien heard Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling SC needed more time to make a decision on whether Hayne will stand trial again.

“The Crown is still considering its position in relation to the possibility of a retrial,” DPP lawyer Isha Fay told the court.

If the third trial does go ahead, Hayne’s lawyer Ramy Qutami told the court he would be applying for a “change of venue” to have the matter heard in Newcastle District Court.

That was the venue of Hayne’s first trial, which resulted in a deadlocked jury result in December 2020.

Jarryd Hayne reports to Merrylands police station after his release from jail. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Dylan Coker

Covid delays resulted in the second trial being heard in the Sydney District Court where a jury found Hayne, 34, guilty in March 2021.

It was a rock bottom moment for the former Parramatta Eels star who was once regarded as the best rugby league player in the world, thanks to his stellar 2009 season where he carried the Eels to the Grand Final.

He was sentenced to a maximum five years and nine months jail with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.

Hayne was convicted of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent in relation to an alleged incident in Fletcher, near Newcastle, in September 2018.

The two-time Dally M winner was accused of travelling to the complainant’s house via taxi and then sexually assaulting her with his hands and mouth, which left her bleeding.

Hayne spent almost a year in jail before his sentenced was overturned by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal, which now leaves the DPP in the position of deciding whether to make Hayne stand trial a third time.

Hayne is greeted by a friend after walking out of Cooma Correctional facility this week. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Hayne’s lawyers successfully argued a direction given to the jury in the second trial by Judge Helen Syme had the effect of the jurors not needing to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the ex league star was guilty.

He was successful on a second ground of appeal that challenged a ruling by Judge Syme to exclude certain text messages sent by the complainant from being used as evidence.

Two other appeal grounds by Hayne failed.

They included that the jury’s verdict to convict him was unreasonable.

The other was that it was an error to let the jury in the second trial view a recording from the first trial that showed an emotional outburst by the complainant.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal delivered its findings for Hayne’s appeal on Monday.

Hayne’s lawyer made a successful bail application for his client in the Sydney District Court on Wednesday that resulted in the ex Parramatta star walking out of Cooma Prison on Thursday. The matter will return to the Sydney District Court on March 4.

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