Jarryd Hayne’s two-week sexual assault trial nears end

A single text from Hayne’s accuser following his alleged sexual assault “says it all”, the crown prosecutor told court as the trial nears an end.

A single text sent by Jarryd Hayne’s accuser to her friend following his alleged sexual assault “says it all”, the crown prosecutor told a court during closing arguments of the two-week trial.

The 35-year-old former NRL star pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, being oral and digital sex acts, on the NRL Grand Final night four and a half years ago.

The Crown has argued throughout the trial at the NSW District Court that although the woman was flirty and suggestive through social media chats leading up to them meeting about 9pm on September 30, 2018, she made it clear on the night she did not consent.

The court heard Hayne stopped by the woman’s home in Fletcher, on the outskirts of Newcastle, on his way back to Sydney from a boozy bucks’ weekend and had told the taxi driver he needed to pick up a bag somewhere when the alleged assault occurred.

Crown Prosecutor John Sfinas told the jury the woman decided she did not want to have sex with Hayne after she realised a taxi was waiting outside, but he pulled her jeans down and assaulted her while she said “no and stop”, leaving her bleeding and in pain.

Hayne is accused of sexually assaulting a woman at her Newcastle home in 2018. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Nikki Short

But Hayne told the court he was “shocked” when he realised he was covered in the woman’s blood, claiming he accidentally clipped her with his finger and the acts were consensual.

As closing submissions continued before Judge Graham Turnbull on Friday morning, Mr Sfinas told the jury one text the alleged victim sent her friend after Hayne left her house “says it all”.

That text read: “He just wanted to get the f*** out of here … he was just quiet”.

Mr Sfinas asked the jury to consider Hayne’s earlier evidence in which he said he decided to “pleasure” the woman after she told him she did not want to have sex.

He told the court Hayne did not want to pleasure her, that she was “nothing more than a diversion from his trip to Sydney” and that he hoped for a “get in, get out” scenario.

“If you accept (the alleged victim’s) version of events, it was rough,” Mr Sfinas told the court.

“Pleasuring someone takes time to ensure the person being pleasured is pleased … not a few minutes while the taxi is waiting outside.”

Mr Sfinas noted Hayne’s accuser earlier told the court Hayne did not initially respond when she asked about the taxi waiting outside.

He told the jury that signalled a “sinking feeling of being found out” because he knew neither the woman or the taxi driver “would be happy about the situation”, hence his “back up” excuse of telling the driver he was only picking up a bag.

“Hayne’s evidence is he wanted to pleasure someone who was ‘filthy’, in his words, that a taxi was waiting outside … who had ‘wigged out’ … who had told him she would not be having sex with him,” Mr Sfinas told the court.

“The Crown says he knew she was not consenting, not just by her words but also by her actions.

“She did not lie, she did not exaggerate, she did not embellish, she did not mislead.”

Hayne walks to court with his wife, Amelia Bonnici, on Wednesday. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

Meanwhile, Defence barrister Margaret Cunneen SC told the jury in her opening address there were two phases to the night in question.

She told the court that Mr Hayne arrived at the house at 9.07pm and left 46 minutes later, but the sexual activity did not occur until 9.26pm in the final 27 minutes of the visit.

“He’s in there for 27 minutes, while showers are taken, while explanations are made … he doesn’t rush off in the boorish way that has been described,” Ms Cunneen told the jury.

“Ladies and gentlemen time doesn’t lie and the most important timing in this case is the amount of time Mr Hayne was at the address.”

She told the court the police were “never aware” of communications the woman had with two people in the days leading up to the alleged incident.

Ms Cunneen said it was an area of evidence the “police had no idea about” until earlier court proceedings.

“Mr Hayne was charged, the criminal justice process was taking place from 2018 as the productive years of his career ebbed away,” she said.

“A couple of years later it is found that this chronology that we have here was originally much shorter in three very distinct respects.”

She said the police never knew about communications the woman had with another man, which indicated her “frame of mind”.

“You can see in the end, she deliberately curated the material that she gave to the police,” Ms Cunneen said.

“If Mr Hayne had committed these dreadful crimes, why would she be deleting any of these messages?”

Closing submissions continue.

- with NCA NewsWire

Originally published as Jarryd Hayne’s two-week sexual assault trial nears end