Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth trial over rape allegations

Disgraced NRL star Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth trial after he successfully overturned his convictions for raping a woman in her Newcastle home.

Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth trial after he successfully appealed his convictions over the alleged rape of a woman in 2018.

The 36-year-old former Parramatta Eel was released from prison earlier this month after a court overturned his rape convictions for a second time.

Mr Hayne spent more than a year behind bars after a jury found him guilty in April 2023 of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

The Officer of the Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed on Tuesday he will not be facing a fourth trial.

“Having carefully considered the many competing factors that inform the assessment of the public interest in this case, the ODPP has determined not to proceed to a fourth trial against Mr Hayne,” the statement reads.

Jarryd Hayne will not face a fourth trial over allegations he raped a woman in her Newcastle home. Picture: NewsWire/Simon Bullard

“The decision was made in accordance with the Prosecution Guidelines.

“As the reasons for the decision are legally privileged, they will not be disclosed and the ODPP will not comment further.”

Mr Hayne was due to return to court on July 26, where the ODPP was going to reveal whether it would be going ahead with the retrial.

He has always denied the allegations.

The two-time Dally M winner claims the sexual encounter was entirely consensual, but the jury accepted the woman’s version of events that she repeatedly said “no” and “stop” and was left bleeding after he pulled her pants off.

The state’s highest court quashed Mr Hayne’s conviction after it ruled the trial judge erred by not allowing further examination of the complainant.

The appeal was upheld in a 2-1 majority decision by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

He was released from prison following the successful appeal earlier this month. Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

Mr Hayne’s appeal relied on three grounds – the first being the verdicts were unreasonable and not supported by evidence at trial, secondly, the trial judge erred in ruling the complainant did not have to give evidence about a 2021 interaction with a person she messaged the same day the jury found she was sexually assaulted in 2018, and lastly, that the judge’s ruling resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

The Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the first ground but allowed the appeal on the second and third grounds.

“The court will quash the convictions and order a new trial,” Justice Stephen Rothman determined.

The decision for a new trial was left to the ODPP, which made the announcement on Tuesday not to run a fourth trial.

In her portion of the judgment, Justice Deborah Sweeney said the guilty verdicts were unreasonable and said she was “of the view there is a significant possibility that an innocent person has been convicted”.

Hayne has faced three trials now into allegations he sexually assaulted a woman at a Newcastle home on the night of the 2018 NRL Grand Final.

The first trial in 2021 resulted in a hung jury and thus not able to reach a verdict; the subsequent trial in 2021 found him guilty, but the verdict was overturned.