Former NRL star Jarryd Hayne has mentioned he “did not lie or cover up evidence” whereas hand-in-hand along with his spouse and preventing again tears after he was discovered responsible of sexually assaulting a girl at her Newcastle house nearly 5 years in the past.
After greater than six days of deliberating, a jury on Tuesday discovered the two-time Dally M winner and ex-NFL convert responsible of two counts of sexual activity with out consent.
Following an 11 day trial in Sydney’s JMT District Court, the jury of six males and 6 ladies declared their verdict and convicted Hayne.
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The 35-year-old has walked into the John Madison Tower constructing in Sydney’s CBD day by day along with his spouse Amelia Bonnici beside him, his mom, sisters and pals supporting him from the entrance row of the general public gallery.
Ms Bonnici, who has been supporting her husband all through the trial by sitting on the entrance of the general public gallery dropped her head in her arms after the decision was learn out and began crying.
More than a dozen supporters sat shoulder to shoulder within the entrance two rows of the general public gallery, with many shaking their heads in disbelief.
Hayne shook his head and regarded down at his lap, whereas his mom held again tears from the entrance row of the general public gallery.
Once the jury was despatched out, Hayne walked over and held Ms Bonnici as she cried into his chest.
He then hugged his mom as he held again tears.
Hayne walked exterior the court docket shortly after 4.30pm holding arms with Ms Bonnici, blinking again tears as he informed media he “keeps standing for the truth”.
When requested if he maintained his innocence, he mentioned “100 per cent”.
“I never lied to police, I never deleted evidence, I never hid witnesses, do the maths,” Hayne mentioned.
He indicated he could be interesting.
When requested if he thought he had a good trial, he refused to remark.
“Did I lie? Did I lie? That’s factual evidence,” he mentioned.
Just after 12pm on Monday after greater than 18 hours of deliberations, the jury despatched a word saying they have been unable to succeed in a unanimous verdict.
They requested the choose for “guidance” on methods to proceed, however Judge Graham Turnbull SC acknowledged there had been prolonged discussions and gave them a “Black direction”, asking them to persevere.
The jury acquired the identical encouragement on Tuesday morning earlier than sending one other word on Tuesday afternoon asking whether or not “ignorance is a sufficient defence”.
Judge Turnbull mentioned the quick reply is “no”.
Less than an hour later, they’d made their choice and convicted Hayne on each fees.
Hayne was granted bail to Thursday the place the Crown will apply for Hayne to be detained in custody.
“The extension of bail is in no way an indication of the ultimate outcome,” Judge Graham mentioned.
He is dealing with a most potential sentence of 14 years in jail.
Hayne pleaded not responsible and denied sexually assaulting the then 26-year-old lady at her house at Fletcher, on Newcastle’s outskirts, in September, 2018.
His first trial in Newcastle in 2020 led to a hung jury, whereas he was convicted at a second trial in March 2021 and despatched to jail for 9 months till he efficiently appealed the choice.
This jury, who heard contemporary proof from a person the sufferer texted on the identical day, agreed with the prior jury and located Hayne responsible of performing oral and digital intercourse on the girl with out her consent.
The jury was informed the girl refused to consent to intercourse as a result of the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi ready exterior.
He had been in Newcastle for a two-day bucks get together and had organised to pay a cab driver $550 to take him again to Sydney, the place he was required to attend an occasion at midnight.
Mr Hayne determined to “pop in” to the girl’s home on the way in which.
She gave him her deal with about 7.30pm and requested after him when he nonetheless hadn’t arrived an hour later: “Where are you fool?”
“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,” Mr Hayne informed the court docket in prerecorded proof.
Both agree the footballer tried to interrupt the ice by asking to do a “singalong” and taking part in songs off her laptop computer, with an Ed Sheeran cowl of ‘Wonderwall’ first up.
Things turned bitter when an impatient taxi driver knocked on the door asking after Mr Hayne, who had informed her he was simply stopping in to “pick up a bag”.
The lady, who can’t be named for authorized causes, mentioned when she heard the taxi beeping exterior her bed room window she resolved there was “no way” she was going to consent to intercourse.
Crown prosecutor John Sfinas informed the jury in his closing deal with the girl “felt like he had only come there for one thing”.
He mentioned the presence of the taxi made her really feel “like absolute crap” and “sad and stupid for flirting with him to start”.
The lady described herself as being in “fairyland” on the time, and contemplated whether or not “this could maybe one day turn into something”.
But when she noticed the taxi ready exterior, the girl felt like “absolute s**t”, the jury was informed.
The pair had communicated through social media for a number of weeks main as much as the incident however had not met face-to-face earlier than the night of September 30 — the identical evening because the NRL grand closing.
“I’m not gonna lie, I imagined what it would be like to be f***ing you when you started talking,” the girl mentioned in a direct message to Hayne on Instagram.
Hayne was consuming on the taxi trip to the girl’s home and left an empty bottle of a Vodka Cruiser on the letterbox.
He informed the court docket in prerecorded proof he went into the girl’s bed room and lay on her mattress the place he tried to serenade her by singing alongside to a few of his “go-to” songs on YouTube, together with an Ed Sheeran cowl of Oasis’s Wonderwall.
According to the girl, he forcibly kissed her and pushed her head into the pillow.
Mr Sfinas informed the court docket the girl felt overpowered, with Hayne pulling off her denims earlier than sexually assaulting her regardless of saying “no” and “stop”.
But in keeping with the NRL star, the girl kissed him again and stood up earlier than taking off her personal pants.
She described his actions as “forceful”, “fast” and “rough”, as he carried out oral and digital intercourse on her, including she mentioned “no” and “no Jarryd” about three or 4 occasions.
He solely stopped after they realised the girl was bleeding from her genitalia.
Hayne went into the lavatory to clean his arms earlier than the girl obtained within the bathe to scrub off the blood, feeling “swelling” and “stinging” on her genitalia, the Crown informed the court docket.
He allegedly induced two lacerations to the girl‘s genitalia – maintaining the injuries were an accident and he apologised.
While Hayne got up to wash his face in the bedroom’s ensuite, the girl obtained within the bathe and mentioned the harm was “stinging like mad”.
He shortly left, however Hayne insists he assured the girl she was alright earlier than heading out.
Soon after, the girl despatched him a string of textual content 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”.
Hayne replied: “Go doctor tomorrow.”
She additionally messaged one other pal saying he was “rough” and he “ended up getting his hand down there”.
The lady mentioned she thought Hayne “wanted to get the f**k out of here”, saying the “whole situation was weird”.
She despatched one other textual content to her pal saying: “I feel like I let it happen to myself by not screaming at him.”
At the time, the girl didn’t wish to report the incident to police – she was confused, not sure if what had occurred constituted rape.
She was additionally scared, telling one other pal she didn‘t want it to be made public.
“I‘m too scared to report it. He would have the money to ruin me and the last thing I need is my life in the public eye,” she said.
The woman saw a doctor on October 3, three days after she was sexually assaulted.
Her allegations were reported to police after her brother in law contacted the NRL Integrity Unit without her knowledge at the beginning of November 2018.
On November 14 and 15 police watched over a Snapchat exchange between the woman and Mr Hayne, which started with the complainant saying: “I thought you would have at least asked if I was OK or not by now.”
“You said you were OK last time we spoke?” he wrote back.
She wrote: “You knew I definitely wasn’t OK from the harm that evening … It was fairly tousled … you simply left me that manner.
“You ought to have simply stopped once I mentioned so.”
Mr Hayne wrote a sequence of messages again denying the girl’s claims.
“Wtf are you on about???” he mentioned.
“You’re starting to sound suss.”
In an intercepted telephone name between Mr Hayne and fellow NRL participant Mitchell Pearce in November 2018, Mr Hayne informed his pal the girl was a “full-blown weirdo” who had “wigged out” after their assembly.
He described the girl as a “young cow” who was “cuckoo”.
Mr Hayne mentioned the girl had develop into connected to him and was “blowing up” as a result of “I brushed her”.
Hayne was arrested on November 19, 2018, at Ryde Police Station.
Source: www.foxsports.com.au