Jarryd Hayne wins appeal over sexual assault convictions

Hayne gave evidence that he knew the woman “didn’t want to have sex”. He agreed that he drew a distinction between the sexual acts that occurred, which he claimed were entirely consensual, and what he regarded as sex.

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Prosecutors alleged Hayne pulled the woman’s pants off, was rough and forceful, and left her bleeding.

Hayne’s appeal was heard in April by Justices Anthony Meagher, Stephen Rothman and Deborah Sweeney.

His lawyers relied on three grounds: the verdicts were unreasonable or could not be supported by the evidence; the trial judge erred in ruling the woman did not have to give evidence about certain interactions with others on the day of the incident and in its aftermath; and the latter resulted in a miscarriage of justice.

Hayne’s barrister, Tim Game, SC, argued a miscarriage of justice arose from the defence not being able to cross-examine the complainant on her deleted or undisclosed texts and social media messages with a man and a woman, sent in 2018 and during Hayne’s first appeal in 2021.

The complainant’s messages

The third trial heard that the woman’s messages with a man in the hours before the incident with Hayne – in which she said that “[if] we aren’t going to keep talking, I’m going to say yes to Jarryd” coming over to her house – were only revealed when that man approached Hayne’s lawyers.

On the same day that she met Hayne, the complainant messaged a woman and said the footballer “went down on her” but did not say it was non-consensual.

Prosecutors maintained there was “no significant possibility in this case that an innocent person has been convicted”.

Hayne’s first trial in 2020 ended in a hung jury. The convictions reached by a second jury in 2021 were quashed on appeal, triggering a third trial.

The sentence

After the jury in Hayne’s third trial returned unanimous guilty verdicts in April last year, District Court Judge Graham Turnbull jailed Hayne in May for a maximum of four years and nine months, with a non-parole period of three years. Due to time already served, he was eligible for parole from May next year.

Support is available from the National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).