Hayne supporter’s fresh blow after ‘despicable’ act of spitting towards alleged rape complainant

A Jarryd Hayne supporter who spat towards the NRL star’s alleged rape complainant has suffered a bruising defamation loss to Channel 7.

Mina Greiss has suffered a bruising defamation loss after he spat towards an alleged rape complainant.

A Jarryd Hayne supporter who spat towards the NRL star’s alleged rape complainant has been stripped of a $37,000 payout after he suffered a bruising defamation loss to Channel 7.

Mina Greiss sued the network over their reporting of an incident outside Newcastle Court House in May 2021 after Hayne was jailed for the alleged rape of a woman after the 2018 NRL Grand Final.

Hayne’s conviction has since been quashed on appeal and the DPP has since dropped the charge.

Mr Greiss argued he had been defamed by an online article, a 7News Facebook post, and a tweet by court reporter Leonie Ryan which alleged he spat at the alleged complainant as she exited the court complex.

He secured a small win in February when Justice Anna Katzmann found he had spat towards the woman but not “at her”, as written in the Facebook post.

Mina Greiss has been ordered to pay Channel 7’s costs after losing his defamation suit on appeal. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer.

She awarded Mr Greiss $37,940 over the post which included the photo caption: “Grub spits at rape victim outside court”.

However, Justice Katzman found the imputations in Ms Ryan’s tweet and the article were substantially true.

Channel 7 launched an appeal against its loss, which was successful on Wednesday.

Justice Michael Lee, Justice Elizabeth Cheeseman, and Justice Ian Jackman dismissed the finding in Mr Greiss’ favour and directed him to pay the legal costs for Channel 7.

They found the imputations of the Facebook post that his behaviour was “disgraceful” and “despicable” were substantially true.

A cross appeal launched by Mr Greiss was dismissed, with the panel of judges ruling there was “no merit” in the challenge to Justice Katzman’s findings.

Mr Greiss’ initial win over the Facebook post was overturned on appeal.

The judge determined Mr Greiss had spat “towards the complainant (rather than at her) as she left the courthouse” on the day of Hayne’s sentencing in May 2021.

Justice Katzman highlighted Mr Greiss’ “overt hostility to and contempt for the complainant” and noted his “generally disgraceful behaviour in front of journalists and television cameras on a public street”.

Mr Greiss was a long-time friend of Hayne and was present at Newcastle Courthouse to support the former NRL player as he was jailed.

Justice Katzman found Greiss bore “ill-will” towards the woman for the court outcome.

“He plainly blamed the complainant for his friend’s plight,” she said in her judgment in February.

“I am also satisfied that he wanted to harm her because, by testifying against Mr Hayne, she had harmed his friend.”

Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne was jailed for sexual assault, but his sentence and conviction were overturned on appeal. The charges were subsequently dropped. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

According to the judgment, as the woman exited the courtroom, Mr Greiss spat in her direction in a move that was seen and criticised by Ms Ryan.

“Foul behaviour outside court following Jarryd Hayne’s sentence,” the court reporter tweeted at the time.

“One of his supporters stared his complainant down and spat in her direction. Share far and wide guys. A grub right here.”

Justice Katzman said she was not satisfied Mr Greiss had stared the woman down but there was no further damage to his reputation arising from that inference.

Hayne, a former Parramatta and NSW fullback, was jailed for at least three years and eight months for sexual assault in 2021 but successfully quashed the conviction on appeal.

Following a retrial, he was last year found guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent and jailed for four years and nine months.

The court of appeal quashed that sentence and conviction on appeal in June. Prosecutors have elected not to proceed to another trial and dropped the charges.