Jarryd Hayne seen on first day of freedom after winning sexual assault appeal

The 36-year-old was seen out and about one day after walking free from a Sydney jail upon winning his latest appeal against his rape conviction.

Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has been seen out and about with his wife one day after walking from a Sydney jail upon winning his latest appeal against his sexual assault conviction.

The 36-year-old had his conviction quashed in the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal and walked free from behind bars on Wednesday – the second time a guilty verdict against him had been thrown out and after three trials over the alleged incident against a woman on grand final night in 2018.

On Thursday, Hayne was seen going grocery shopping with his wife, Amelia Bonnici, and one of their children before they arrived back at their Merrylands home.

It is up to the NSW DPP to determine if Hayne goes on trial for a fourth time, but one of his appeal judges said doing so would “not be in the interests of justice”.

The appeal judges found an earlier trial judge was wrong to have ruled the complainant would not be questioned in court about deleted or undisclosed messages with a man and a woman before and after the alleged incident.

Jarryd Hayne went supermarket shopping with his wife and child on Thursday. Picture: Matrix

That woman gave evidence that the complainant had sent her Snapchat messages saying Hayne “went down on her” and that the encounter was “really rushed”, but did not say that the encounter had been non-consensual.

Police did not see those messages until November 2020 – two years after Hayne was initially charged with sexual assault.

Hayne will keep his two Dally M medals after his conviction was overturned.

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