Jarryd Hayne guilty of sexual assault

After 4½ years, three trials and two guilty verdicts, former rugby league superstar and convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne again faces the inside of a jail cell.

Jarryd Hayne and his wife, Amellia Bonnici, leave the District Court in Sydney on Tuesday after a jury found the ex-NRL star guilty of sexual assault. Picture: Jonathan Ng

After 4½ years, three trials and two guilty verdicts, former rugby league superstar and convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne again faces the inside of a jail cell.

A jury on Tuesday found the man once dubbed the “Hayne Plane” by adoring fans, sexually assaulted a woman in Newcastle in September 2018, completing one of sport’s most extraordinary falls from grace.

As he emerged from court for what is set to be a short-lived freedom, Hayne could be heard muttering “it’s a disgrace”. His wife, who had stood by him throughout the trial, broke down in tears.

Outside court, Hayne – one of the most decorated players in rugby league history, who also had a much-hyped but ultimately failed stint in American football – said he maintained his innocence “100 per cent”.

“I never lied to the police, I never deleted evidence, I never hid witnesses – you do the math,” he said.

Asked whether he had any ­remorse, Hayne said: “Did I lie? There’s factual evidence.”

The jury deliberated for almost six days, finding Hayne guilty on two counts of sexual ­intercourse without consent.

Haynewon the Dally M medal twice (2009 and 2014), the Brad Fittler Medal as NSW’s player of the year a record three times (2007, 2008, 2014) and the Parramatta Eels’ Ken Thornett medal twice. The NRL declined to comment but it is possible it will reconsider Hayne’s two Dally M medals.

The Eels also declined to comment but are likely to follow the lead of the NRL if it chooses to strip Hayne of his awards.

In a statement, the NSW Rugby League said the board might consider its position on the three Brad Fittler medals that Hayne was awarded during his career.

Jarryd Hayne after winning his first Dally M Medal,
in 2009

“The court matter involving Jarryd Hayne has only just been decided and any issue arising from it will be dealt with by the NSWRL board at an appropriate time in the future,” a NSWRL spokesman said.

This was the third time Hayne had been tried over the sexual ­assault allegations. The first was dismissed after the jury could not reach a decision. The second, which found Hayne guilty, was overturned on appeal after he had spent nine months in jail.

Earlier this year, the Director of Public Prosecutions elected to try Hayne for a third time.

During the 11-day trial, the defence called Steven Page, a man whom Hayne’s accuser was consistently messaging on the same day as the assault. This was the first time a jury had heard from Mr Page, who gave evidence via audiovisual link for 20 minutes on the trial’s final day.

He told the court he had stopped talking to the woman that day but she continued to send him messages asking whether he was going to come to her house. He described her as being aggressive and said the mes­sages were spread over many hours from before lunch until about 8pm.

Hayne pleaded not guilty and denied sexually assaulting the then 26-year-old woman at her home at Fletcher, on Newcastle’s outskirts.

The jury was told the woman refused to consent to sex because the former Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside.

He had been in Newcastle for a two-day bucks 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 midnight.

Hayne decided to “pop in” to the woman’s house on the way.

“It was up in the air. Best-case scenario, I would be having sex with her; worst case I would just get introduced and that was it,” Hayne told the court in pre­recorded evidence.

Both agree the footballer tried to break the ice by asking to do a “singalong” and playing songs off her laptop, with an Ed Sheeran cover of Wonderwall first up.

Things turned sour when an impatient taxi driver knocked at the door asking after Hayne, who had told her he was just stopping in to “pick up a bag”.

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

Crown prosecutor John Sfinas told the jury in his closing address that the woman “felt like he had only come there for one thing”.

The pair had communicated via social media for several weeks leading up to the incident but had not met face to face before the evening of September 30, the same night as the NRL grand final.

“I’m not gonna lie, I imagined what it would be like to be f..king you when you started talking,” the woman said in a direct message to Hayne on Instagram.

Hayne was drinking on the taxi ride to the woman’s house and left an empty bottle of a Vodka Cruiser on the letterbox.

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

Mr Sfinas told the court the woman felt overpowered, with Hayne pulling off her jeans before sexually assaulting her despite her saying “no” and “stop”.

According to Hayne, the woman kissed him back and stood up before taking off her own pants.

She described his actions as “forceful”, “fast” and “rough”, as he performed oral and digital sex on her, adding she said “no” and “no, Jarryd” about three or four times.

He stopped only when they realised the woman was bleeding from her genitalia.

Hayne allegedly caused two lacerations to the woman’s ­genitalia. He maintained the injuries were an accident and he apologised.

While Hayne got up to wash his face in the bedroom’s ensuite, the woman got in the shower and said the injury was “stinging like mad”.

Hayne quickly left, but he insists he assured the woman she was all right before heading out.

Soon after, the woman sent him a string of text messages saying: “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.”

At the time, the woman did not want to report the incident to police – she was confused, and unsure whether what had happened constituted rape.

She was also scared, telling ­another friend she didn’t want it to be made public.

On October 3, the woman went to see a doctor, three days after she was sexually assaulted.

The police were notified of the incident after her brother-in-law reached out to the NRL Integrity Unit without her knowledge in early November 2018.

Hayne was arrested on Nov­ember 19, 2018, at Ryde police station in Sydney’s northwest.

Additional reporting: NCA Newswire

Jarryd Hayne in action for the Parramatta Eels in 2018. Picture: AAP