Jarryd Hayne trial: Ex-NRL star granted bail

Fallen NRL star Jarryd Hayne will get to spend Easter Weekend with his loved ones after he was granted bail ahead of his rape sentence.

Convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne will spend the Easter break with his loved ones as he was granted bail ahead of being sentenced next month.

The fallen footy star walked free from court, flanked by sheriffs, after his friends and family sighed with relief in a packed courtroom when they heard the ruling.

Judge Graham Turnbull, SC, rejected the crown’s detention application, raising concerns about prison conditions and online threats.

On Tuesday, a jury found the 35-year-old guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent relating to 2018’s NRL Grand Final night. It was the third trial Hayne had faced over the charges.

Hayne was granted immediate bail to appear at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Thursday, where Judge Turnbull ruled that Hayne would be safer in the community than in jail for the next month.

Judge Turnbull raised concerns Hayne would face “significantly deprived circumstances” because he would be separated from other prisoners until he is classified after sentencing. Once he is sentenced, he will be sent to a protective jail for high profile inmates.

He said he would face deprivation “not because of his offending... but because he’s Jarryd Hayne.”

Judge Turnbull read out several threatening messages Hayne and his wife had received online, including “Big Bubba is waiting”.

Another one read: “Should lock him up with a few guys and teach him what it’s like to have your consent disregarded”.

Judge Turnbull said what he had was “evidence that suggests public interest in this matter is of the very highest level”.

He told the court the sex offenders who will inevitably face full-time prison, as Hayne will in this case, are legally required to be denied bail unless there are exceptional circumstances.

But he said this case met the threshold for exceptional circumstances.

“It is not some obscure criminal (who is) only well-known to certain groups as opposed to the general prison population - it’s a man who is well-known in the community and has been elevated in a way that is exceptional,” Judge Turnbull said.

The court heard from a prison manager who explained Hayne would be segregated for his own safety from the moment he arrives in prison until he is sentenced, and would only be allowed outside for one hour a day.

Hayne’s defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC earlier told the court Hayne would be at risk of danger in jail, having been targeted the last time he was behind bars.

“Mr Hayne is being treated as the most evil and serious sex offender ever that has ever come out of the earth,” Ms Cunneen told the court.

She said Hayne was more susceptible to threats in jail to that now that the “intensity of publicity is greater than ever” and that “the visceral response is grossly out of proportion to the relative seriousness to the circumstances in this case”.

Jarryd Hayne was sentenced on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

The detention application was also opposed on the grounds that Hayne’s wife and children would have to move from Sydney to seek family support if Hayne was relocated, he had obeyed his bail conditions since was first charge with the offences in 2018 and he had committed no crimes since.

But Crown Prosecutor John Sfinas SC submitted the family would have to relocate when Hayne is inevitably sentenced to jail.

“All it comes down to is the fact the offender was a high-profile footballer, that’s all it comes down to,” he said.

Hayne is due to be sentenced on May 8.

Wife’s emotional plea

Earlier in court, Ms Bonnici broke down as she was asked about what would happen if Hayne was sent straight to jail.

Amellia Bonnici said she married Hayne in 2021 before she was asked if she had three children with him.

“Yes,” she told the court, as she began crying.

Asked about the affidavit she prepared about what the next few weeks will mean to her family without Hayne’s support, she told the court: “I can’t even put that into words”.

Ms Bonnici told the court that if Hayne was sentenced to full-time prison, she would have to move to the country to live with her parents.

Mr Sfinas asked Ms Bonnici if Hayne’s parents, who live in the Central Coast, could support her if she moved near them.

“Not as much as mine would. (Their support) is not the same as raising children,” she said.

Ms Bonnici told the court Hayne had received no income for the past five years and the family had been living off his savings.

Hayne faces a maximum of 14 years in prison.

During the 11-day trial, Mr Sfinas argued Hayne sexually assaulted the woman with his hands and mouth when he stopped by her house on the outskirts of Newcastle, after she told him she did not want to have sex.

The NSW District Court heard she said “no” and “stop” and tried to physically resist but gave up, before she was left with two lacerations and substantial bleeding.

On Tuesday, Hayne’s supporters became emotional as the guilty verdict was read out.

Ms Bonnici put her head in her hands and cried before embracing her husband and his mother.

Outside court following the verdict, the two-time Dally-M winner told journalists he was devastated and would appeal the verdict.

The former Eels great said he “100 per cent” maintains his innocence.

“I never lied to police. I never deleted evidence. I never hid witnesses. You do the maths,” he said.

Asked if he had remorse or anything to say to the victim, he shot back to the journalist: “For telling the truth?” Did I lie? Did I lie? Did I lie? It’s factual evidence.”

Hayne leaves court with his wife, Amellia. Picture: Jonathan Ng

How Hayne learned his fate

The 12-person jury spent eight days deliberating before returning their verdict 3:30pm on Tuesday.

That came hours after they sent a note to Judge Turnbull which read: “Dear Your Honour, we’ve taken another vote, and while we have made progress, we are not at a unanimous decision. We would like to clarify if ignorance of the law is a sufficient defence.”

In response to the jury’s note, Judge Turnbull told them the “short answer is no”, but that the facts of this case show there is a little more nuance to that.

“In this case, you must remember the burden of proof is on the Crown and the accused does not have to prove anything,” Judge Turnbull said.

“Neither the accused nor the complainant misunderstood that it was anything but illegal to force yourself on a woman without her consent, whether it be digitally or orally.

Judge Turnbull told them they have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.

Judge Turnbull’s lengthy message came a day after he made a “Black Direction” asking them to reconsider the votes of a few jurors.

Hayne had pleaded not guilty to both crimes and maintained throughout the trial the acts were consensual.

The former NRL star had pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Swift

The incident

The trial heard Hayne and the woman chatted on social media for two weeks leading up to September 30 but had not met in person.

It heard Hayne had invited the woman to meet him out the night before while he was at a party during the bucks’ weekend, but she did not want to because it was all men and instead invited him for coffee or breakfast the next morning.

Hayne continued to drink throughout the next day, the trial heard, and eventually arranged with the woman to visit her at her house in Fletcher the next night.

He told the jury when he arrived shortly after 9pm, the woman’s mother directed him straight to her daughter’s bedroom. He said he felt awkward as the woman was shy, despite having sent sexual and suggestive texts.

He claimed he tried to break the ice by putting a few of his “go-to” songs on YouTube, including Ed Sheeran’s cover of Oasis’ song ‘Wonderwall’ before the woman noticed a taxi was waiting outside and was “filthy” about it.

A short time later, the taxi driver knocked on the door – as Hayne had told her he was only at the house to pick up a bag.

Hayne told the court he then went out to watch some of the NRL Grand Final with the woman’s mother before coming back into the bedroom, when the assault took place.

According to the prosecution, Hayne was in a rush to “get what he came for” despite the woman having told him she did not want to have sex once she knew a taxi was sitting outside.

Hayne denied that, saying he only wanted to “pleasure” the woman once she decided not to have sex, but the prosecution said such an act would require time for the woman to feel pleasured.

According to the prosecution, after about 30 seconds of the sex acts, Hayne realised the woman was bleeding, cleaned himself up and left.

Hayne became emotional speaking to media following the verdict. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Case’s history

This was the third time the two-time Dally M winner and ex-NFL convert had faced a jury over the assault.

A jury could not reach a verdict in his first trial in Newcastle in 2020.

He was convicted at a second trial in March, 2021 and sent to prison for nine months until he successfully appealed the decision. The Court of Appeal quashed that conviction and he walked free from prison on his 34th birthday, on February 14, 2022.

Hayne made his NRL debut in 2006 and played 214 games between Parramatta and the Gold Coast.

At his peak, he virtually guided Parramatta himself to the 2009 Grand Final - only to lose to the Melbourne Storm, who were later stripped of the premiership due to salary cap breaches.