Bloody video that helped convict Jarryd Hayne of sex assault

A video of blood stains played a key role in Jarryd Hayne being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at her NSW home.

A bloody and graphic two-second video and a phone call to a fellow NRL star that was picked up in a police intercept played a key role in convicting Jarryd Hayne of sexual assault.

Hayne’s dramatic fall from stardom and grace was completed on Thursday afternoon as the ex-superstar of Australian sport was jailed for at least three years and eight months for sexually assaulting a woman in her Newcastle home.

When convicted in March, Hayne said he would “definitely appeal” the guilty verdict.

“I’d rather go to jail knowing I spoke the truth than be a free man living a lie,” he said outside court at the time.

A video taken by the woman who was sexually assaulted by Jarryd Hayne showing blood on her bed. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

His first trial in Newcastle last year ended in a hung jury.

However after three days of deliberation, a second jury of seven men and five women found the 33-year-old guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.

He was found not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.

Hayne had pleaded not guilty but the jury accepted the evidence of the then 26-year-old woman who said she did not consent to the ex-NFL convert performing oral and digital sex on her in her bedroom on NRL grand final night in September 2018.

She was left with two lacerations on her vagina that bled profusely.

Hayne insisted her injuries were an accident and apologised.

During her evidence, which was replayed from Hayne’s first trial, the woman said she refused to consent to sex because the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside.

Soon after he had left, the woman sent him a string of text messages saying “I am hurting so much” and “I know I’ve talked about sex and stuff so much but I didn’t want to do that after knowing the taxi was waiting for you”.

Mr Hayne replied: “Go doctor tomorrow.”

Jarryd Hayne said he would appeal after being found guilty of sexual assault. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

She recorded a short video, showing the blood covering her bed, doona and pillows, which she sent to a friend.

The video, which was played to the jury, shows blood at the head of the bed, which backed up the woman’s account that she began inching up the bed when he began performing the sexual acts on her.

The two second video was a key piece of evidence. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

Hayne had been in Newcastle for a two-day buck’s party and had organised to pay a cab driver $550 to take him back to Sydney, where he was required to attend an event at Alexandria at midnight.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said when she heard the taxi beeping outside her bedroom window she resolved there was “no way” she was going to consent to sex.

“Like my heart dropped because I felt like he had only come there for one thing,” she said in her testimony.

“I felt saddened because I felt like he must have only seen me in one type of way.”

She also messaged a friend saying he was “rough” and that he “ended up getting his hand down there”.

“I just feel like I let it happen to myself by not screaming at him,” she said.

Jarryd Hayne fronts the media after his conviction for sexual assault. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

He said he went into the woman’s bedroom and lay on her bed where he attempted to “break the ice” by singing along to some of his “go-to” songs on YouTube, including an Ed Sheeran cover of Oasis’s Wonderwall.

According to the woman, he forcibly kissed her and pushed her head into the pillow.

The woman did not immediately go to police, and an investigation only began when her brother-in-law phoned Channel 9 journalist Danny Weidler, who advised the family to contact the NRL integrity unit.

When Hayne learned of the woman’s complaint, he was heard in police phone taps speaking to former NSW teammate Mitchell Pearce on the phone.

On the phone calls, Hayne is heard telling the Newcastle Knights halfback: “You know what, ask your boys ... there’s a couple of your boys might know her, bro.”

Hayne described his victim as a “full blown weirdo” and that she “was filthy” because the taxi was out the front of her house.

A phone call between Jarryd Hayne and Mitchell Pearce was played during the trials. Picture: Ashley Feder

Of the victim, he also said: “Oh mate, I’ll get her for defamation, easy.”

Hayne barely reacted as the verdict was read out by the jury in March, nodding twice and then looking over at a group of supporters.