Jarryd Hayne speaks after jury unable to reach verdict in sexual assault trial

Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has spoken outside court after the jury in his sex assault trial was discharged after failing to reach a verdict.

Jarryd Hayne has declared “I told the truth” after a jury was discharged because it could not reach a verdict in the former NRL star’s sexual assault trial.

The former Parramatta fullback left Newcastle District Court hand-in-hand with rumoured partner Amellia Bonnici and briefly spoke to a waiting media scrum after the jury of eight men and four women couldn‘t come to a decision following two days of deliberating.

“I told the truth and we’ll do it all again,” Mr Hayne said before being whisked away in a Ford Ranger.

He said he was “disappointed” with the outcome of a hung jury; “but it is what it is”.

Jarryd Hayne could face a retrial in 2021. Picture NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer.

The 32-year-old had pleaded not guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.

After a two-week trial before Newcastle District Court, a jury could not reach a unanimous or majority decision on either count.

It means the two-time Dally M medal winner faces a likely re-trial next year, a date for which could be set during a mention before the court on December 16.

Jarryd Hayne leaves Newcastle Court after the jury was discharged from his sexual assault trial. Picture: Heath Parkes-Hupton

The jury retired to deliberate on Thursday afternoon and told the court on Friday it was struggling to come to a decision.

On Monday the jury was directed to consider a majority verdict after it sent a note to Judge Peter Whitford SC saying members were “unable to agree” on a unanimous verdict.

“We have re-examined all the evidence and considered all the juror’s views. It is evident that we will not be able to make a decision,” their note read. “This decision has not been made lightly.”

They were sent back to deliberate but just minutes later another note confirmed they could not come to a majority decision.

“No amount of time or deliberation even with the option (of the majority verdict) will change this decision,” it said.

Jarryd Hayne last played in the NRL in September 2018. Picture: AAP Image/Brendan Esposito

During the trial the court heard Mr Hayne was in town to attend a buck’s party for an ex-Fiji teammate on September 30, 2018, and stopped at the woman’s Fletcher home on the way back to Sydney.

They had never met before but had been exchanging explicit messages on Instagram and Snapchat for about two weeks before Mr Hayne’s visit to the house she shared with her mother.

Mr Hayne was accused of pulling off the woman’s pants before performing the sex acts on the woman without her consent, causing two lacerations to her genitalia and substantial bleeding.

“He pushed my face down and pulled my clothes off and … I’m not sure whether he bit me or cut me or whatever the hell he did but I was saying don’t, no, I don’t want to,” the woman, who can’t be named, told the court. “Then I was bleeding everywhere.”

Jarryd Hayne playing for NSW in 2017. Picture: AAP Image/Glenn Hunt

She told the court she froze and sent a text message to Mr Hayne 20 minutes after he left saying: “I am hurting so much”.

He later replied “Go doctor tomorrow”.

In court Mr Hayne denied the woman’s allegations she told him “no” and “stop”, claiming the sexual acts were consensual and her injuries an accident caused by his fingers.

He knew “she didn’t want to have sex” but he claimed they started kissing and he decided to “please her and that was it”.

Mr Hayne gave evidence over three days during the trial. Picture NCA NewsWire / Peter Lorimer

She took her pants off, he said, and he inserted his fingers in her vagina before “going down” on her.

However, he said he was soon shocked when she began to bleed and he rushed to the bathroom to wash himself.

Asked in court if he ever bit the woman, Mr Hayne said: “No.”

The woman’s injuries resulted in significant bleeding, with the court being played a video of blood-stained bedding captured on her mobile phone.

The court heard she did not immediately tell her mother – who was at home – about the incident and it was reported to police after her brother-in-law contacted the NRL Integrity Unit without her knowledge.

She did text a friend in the minutes after Mr Hayne left accusing him of being “really pushy” and stated she “kept saying no”.

“I just felt I let it happen to myself by not screaming at him,” she wrote.

In an intercepted phone call between the NRL star and former Blues teammate Mitchell Pearce, Mr Hayne was heard calling the woman a “full-blown weirdo” and claimed she made up the allegations.

The allegations against Mr Hayne became public on November 17, 2018, after the NRL Integrity Unit referred the matter to police.