Ex-NRL Player Jarryd Hayne Found Guilty Of Two Charges Of Sexual Assault After Third Trial
Former NRL player Jarryd Hayne has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final, after a third trial over the incident.
Hayne pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual intercourse without consent, and faced a two-week trial in the NSW District Court.
The charges related to his meeting with a 26-year-old woman on September 30, 2018 at her home in Newcastle.
The jury reached its verdict after more than a week of deliberations, unanimously finding Hayne guilty of both charges.
Disgraced former NRL player Jarryd #Hayne will not go into custody right now… the twice convicted rapist will return home with his wife tonight and there’s likely to be a detention application in the next few days. @9NewsSyd
A mountain of umbrellas, as supporters shield Jarryd Hayne entering Newcastle district court for sentence hearing on sexual assault conviction. Reporters pushed away, as supporters shielded Hayne. @abcnewspic.twitter.com/2VWnw5aduh
Help is available.If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online. Under 25? You can reach Kids Helplineat 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
Hayne’s first trial back in 2018 ended in a hung jury and at a retrial in 2021, he was convicted of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
“I do not accept the offender did not know, or hear, that the victim did not want to have sex with him,” Judge said while handing down his sentence after he was found guilty in 2021.
“I do not accept that he was not aware that she was attempting to push him away and trying to physically resist him… it was very clear she said no several times.
“I have found the offender was fully aware that the victim was not consenting and went ahead anyway. His decision to do so increases the objective seriousness.”
In the 2021 sentencing, Judge Syme added that the woman’s “reliability and honesty” were tested throughout the trial and that she had no doubt as to the reliability of her accusations.
“The use of force was such that the victim had no prospect of stopping him physically,” she said.
“He was at least twice her weight at 100 kilograms and an athlete at the top of his form.”
Judge Syme also referenced Hayne’s upbringing, saying that his difficult childhood was no excuse for his “entitled behaviour next to this young woman who simply refused to have sexual relations with him,” and that this behaviour won’t be fixed by him “going to church.”
In an emotional victim statement read to the court in the earlier trial, the woman — who can’t be named for legal reasons — said the incident made her feel “dirty and violated,” and that it still affects her to this day.
“You don’t owe somebody your body, nor should they expect it,” she said in her victim statement.
“My body remembers and my mind won’t let me forget.
“This assault has changed me. It changed my direction and who I was.
“I don’t remember the last time I had a proper sleep.”
Hayne was handed a prison sentence of five years and nine months, however, he appealed the verdict. In February 2022, the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal quashed his convictions and ordered a retrial — his third.
Hayne will be sentenced at a later date.
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